More than 150 coal miners are dead and some 270 are still buried underground in a major disaster in western Turkey.  This is believed to have been caused by a faulty electrical generator that produced a spark that in turn ignited a massive explosion and fire.

This is going on in the western Turkish province of Manisa.  Dozens of family members are gathered around, watching ambulances pass, waiting or sometimes demanding information about their loved ones beneath the surface.  Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan went on TV to announce, “Evacuation efforts are under way.  I hope that we are able to rescue” the trapped men.  He plans on going to the scene on Wednesday.

Accidents are common in Turkey’s mining industry, which is plagued by poor safety conditions and lax oversight.  The country’s worst mining disaster was in 1992, when a gas explosion killed 270 workers near the Black Sea port of Zonguldak.