- At least 282 killed and dozens trapped after blast at mine in Soma, Turkey
- 787 miners were working below surface of coal mine when blast occurred
- Explosion and fire occurred 2km below ground during change in shifts
- Fellow workers and relatives gathered at mine amid rescue operation
- Turkish Prime Minister has declared three days of national mourning
- Protesters shouted 'Murderer!' and 'Thief!' at Turkish Prime Minister
Yusuf Yerkel, one of Recep Tayyip Erdogan's aides, has admitted kicking a protester who was being held on the ground by Special Forces police officers.
The incident, which has led to widespread anger on social media, occurred as Erdogan visited Soma in the wake of the coalmine tragedy.
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The photograph of Yerkel was quickly circulated on Twitter, with user MarquardtA describing the scene as 'insane'
Vicious: The protester was being held down by Special Forces police officers when Yerkel launched his attack
It's been reported that Yerkel attacked the protester after he kicked a car in the Turkish Prime Minister's convoy
Yerkel was about to be driven away when he launched the astonishing attack, it's been reported
Yerkel kicked the protester three or four times, according to witnesses
Position of power: Yusuf Yerkel, circled,
pictured to the right of Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
during a visit to the coal mine in Soma on Wednesday
A rescuer carries blankets from the coal mine a day after the explosion
Rescuers walk towards the site on Thursday, with dozens of miners still trapped over a mile below ground
The protester was being interrogated by two officers following the alleged incident when Yerkel, who was about to be driven away, ran over to him and kicked him three or four times, according to The Hurriyet Daily News.
Yerkel, whose official title is Deputy Chief of the Cabinet of the Turkish Prime Minister's office, has admitted to the assault, according to BBC Turkey, and will shortly release a statement about it.
When Erdogan tried to show concern during his visit he was heckled. Protesters shouted ‘murderer!’ and ‘thief!’ and he was forced to seek refuge in a supermarket, surrounded by police.
Video footage emerged later that purported to show Erdogan embroiled in a scuffle of his own with someone at the Soma mine, but it was not clear from the clip what happened.
The video was uploaded to YouTube, but has since been taken down.
Demonstrations have also taken place in Istanbul and the capital, Ankara.
Turk-Is, Turkey's largest trade union confederation representing some 800,000 workers, joined a one-day strike by other unions to demand better conditions for workers.
Workers in the mining region of Zonguldak, obeying the strike, gathering in front of a pit but did not enter it.
In Istanbul, a group chanted anti-government slogans and carried a large banner that read: 'It's not an accident, it's murder.'
The display of anger could have significant repercussions for the Turkish leader, who is widely expected to run for president in the August election, although he has yet to announce his candidacy.
Erdogan had earlier downplayed the disaster, calling mining accidents 'ordinary things' that also occur in many other countries, after giving examples of 19th-century mine accidents in Britain.
Erdogan has made no secret of his desire to become Turkey's first popularly elected president. His party swept local elections in March despite a corruption scandal that forced him to dismiss four government ministers in December and later also implicated him and family members.
Erdogan denies corruption, calling the allegations part of a plot to bring his government down.
People wait outside the mine in Soma on Thursday, where dozens of miners are still missing
Riot police use tear gas against protesters
during a demonstration blaming the ruling AK Party government for the
mining disaster
Riot police dispersed protesters with tear gas and rubber bullets during a protest in Istiklal avenue in Istanbul
Water was also pumped at the crowds, as Turkey
declared three days of mourning on 14 May as the death toll from the
country's worst mining disaster in more than two decades soared
Even as hopes for some 150 other miners trapped underground faded, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz told reporters that rescue efforts were focusing on two areas inside the mine.
Yildiz said the operation was hampered by a fire still blazing inside the mine.
The government has said 787 people were inside the coal mine at the time of Tuesday's explosion and 363 were rescued, including scores who were injured.
The death toll topped a 1992 gas explosion that killed 263 workers near Turkey's Black Sea port of Zonguldak.
Conflict: Hundreds of protesters clashed with Turkish police in Ankara over the disaster
Police fired tear gas and water cannon as demonstrators hurled fireworks, shouting anti-government chants
A still image taken from a video of rescue work being carried out at the mine accident site on Wednesday
Danger zone: Around 120 workers were still trapped in the mine as of Wednesday afternoon
A huge rescue operation was mounted to save the miners
Authorities said the disaster followed an explosion and fire at a power distribution unit and most deaths were caused by carbon monoxide poisoning.
Erdogan promised the tragedy would be investigated to its ‘smallest detail’ and that ‘no negligence will be ignored.’
Mining accidents are common in Turkey, which is plagued by poor safety conditions. Tuesday's explosion tore through the mine as workers were preparing for a shift change, which likely raised the casualty toll.
Turkey's Labor and Social Security Ministry said the mine had been inspected five times since 2012, most recently in March, and that no safety violations were detected. But the country's main opposition party said Erdogan's ruling party had recently voted down a proposal to hold a parliamentary inquiry into a series of small-scale accidents at the mines around Soma.
Mourning: A man sits near graves during the funeral of a miner who died in the coalmine fire
Tragic: Locals in Soma quickly began digging graves for the hundreds of victims
Volunteers worked all day marking out spaces in a field and digging as hundreds are still unaccounted for
A miner sits on a bench in a state of exhaustion
On
Wednesday rescue workers emerged at a slow pace from the mine with
stretchers carrying bodies, which were covered in blankets. The corpses'
faces were blackened like the coal. One man, who declined to be named, said he had led a 10-man team about a kilometer (half-mile), or halfway, down the mine into the tunnels and had recovered three bodies.
But the men had to flee because of smoke from coal that had been lit by the explosion, he said.
Another man walked down the stairs from the mine's entrance weeping, with a look of dejection. Behind him, two groups bearing heavy stretchers pushed through the crowd like caterpillars.
Turkish riot policemen group together for protection during a demonstration in Ankara
Street battle: Riot police run away from the
flames of a fire bomb thrown by protesters as they demonstrate to blame
the ruling AK Party government on the mining disaster
Arrest: Riot police detain a protester during a demonstration against the ruling AK Party
Sombre: Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan visits the scene
As
bodies were brought out on stretchers, rescue workers pulled blankets
back from the faces of the dead to give jostling crowds of anxious
family members a chance to identify victims. One elderly man wearing a
prayer cap wailed after he recognized one of the dead, and police
restrained him from climbing into an ambulance with the body. Overnight, people cheered and applauded as some trapped workers emerged. But others were consumed by grief.
Emine Gulsen, part of a group of women who sat wailing near the entrance to the mine, chanted, ‘My son is gone, my Mehmet.’ Her son, Mehmet Gulsen, 31, has been working in the mine for five years.
Mehmet Gulsen's aunt, Makbule Dag, held out hope. ‘Inshallah’ (God willing), she said.
Police set up fences and stood guard around Soma state hospital to keep the crowds away.
SOMA Komur Isletmeleri A.S., which owns the mine, said the accident occurred despite the ‘highest safety measures and constant controls’ and added that an investigation was being launched.
Support: Pope Francis urged his millions of followers to pray for the miners who died in the blast
Rescuers carry a miner who sustained injuries to
an ambulance. The explosion, which triggered a fire, occurred shortly
after 3 pm - midday GMT - on Tuesday and the death toll is feared to be
rising. Local hospitals have been overwhelmed by the scale of the
disaster
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: 'Evacuation efforts are underway. I hope that we are able to rescue them'
Rescue workers look on as smoke billows from the coal mine
Rescue workers were at the entrance of the mine
all Tuesday afternoon following the explosion which occurred during a
change in shift patterns for the miners
Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said: 'It is a serious accident. Our priority is to reach our miner brothers'
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