ANKARA, Sept 8 (AFP) - A huge fire swept through a copper mine in northern Turkey on Wednesday, killing at least 19 workers and injuring a further 17, a local official there said.
Mustafa Kara, governor of Kastamonu province, told Anatolia news agency the new toll of workers injured had been announced after seven more people had been pulled alive from the mine.
The fire broke out in a tunnel 150 metres (490 feet) underground near Kure, some 350 kilometres (215 miles) northeast of Ankara.
One of the survivors, Ali Cinar, told Anatolia that strong winds had fanned flames and smoke toward the inside of the tunnel, making it impossible to see anything.
"I went through three hours of hell. You can't describe the joy I felt to get back to life," Cinar said.
STFA, one of the country's top building companies, which was sub-contracted by mining giant Etibank to build the tunnel, said the area where the fire had broken out was big enough to drive a lorry through.
Two workers who had earlier managed to flee the flames described the blaze as huge and said it had apparently been sparked off during welding work.
Ambulances were rushed to the site, Anatolia news agency said.
The fire had been brought under control and teams of rescuers were continuing to search for survivors. It was not known if anyone was still trapped.
Alper Tanrisever, deputy governor of the town, situated in the northern Turkish highlands, earlier told Anatolia that about 30 workers were inside the tunnel when the blaze erupted.
Most of the dead were asphyxiated, according to STFA spokesman Ilker Cerenoglu, despite that fact that the authorities had activated emergency ventilation machines.
Those who escaped the inferno were taken to hospital with minor burns and breathing problems and their lives were not thought to be in danger.
The Turkish mining authorities said they had made contact with the men trapped in the tunnel during rescue operations, via a ventilation shaft, and had been able to send them supplies of drinking water.
Cerenoglu said STFA had been working on the construction of the tunnel for the past three years and that it was designed to help Etibank extract copper from the mine.