Turkey puts death toll from coal mine explosion at 18

ANKARA - Officials on Friday raised to 18 the death toll from a gas explosion at a coal mine in western Turkey.
They had said earlier that 17 people, 16 miners and an engineer, died in the accident Thursday at a state-run mine near Gediz, in the province of Kutahya.
The victims were trapped in a gallery about 300 meters (985 feet) underground after the explosion caused a cave-in and started a fire.
Gediz sub-governor Ali Nazim Balcioglu told the Anatolia news agency there had been confusion on whether a miner whose name was not on the duty roster had actually come to work or not.
"The body of this worker was among the bodies of the others found in the mine," he said.
The badly charred remains of the miners were recovered late Thursday, about 10 hours after the explosion, as the blaze impeded rescue efforts for several hours.
Two miners who were working close to the mine exit were slightly injured in the blast.

04/22/2005 07:49 GMT