9 miners trapped after Turkish mine collapse

Istanbul - Nine miners were trapped in a Turkish coal mine in the Black Sea province of Zonguldak on Tuesday after part of the structure collapsed, state broadcaster TRT Haber reported.

It said the privately owned mine was in Zonguldak's Dilaver district and rescue workers had gone to the scene. Other media carried a similar report but no further details were available.

The incident occurred three months after Turkey's biggest industrial disaster in which 301 people died after a fire broke out at a mine in Soma, 480km southwest of Istanbul.

The Soma disaster prompted widespread criticism of the government for leasing mines to parts of the private sector close to the ruling party and accusations that repeated warnings about workers' safety were ignored.

The government rejected those accusations and said regular inspections were carried out at the mine and no irregularities had been detected.