Update: Explosion at coal mine in Turkey kills five, traps 200 underground

According to a report from ABC News at least five miners were killed and at least 200 more where trapped in a coal mine in Turkey following and fire and an explosion on May 13.

The Associated Press reported that the mine in western Turkey is the site of the explosion and that as many as 300 miners could be trapped underground.

Local administrator Mehmet Bahattin Atci said 20 people were rescued from the mine in the town of Soma, in the province of Manisa. One later died in the hospital.

Local member of parliament Muzaffer Yurttas told broadcaster NTV that the bodies of 20 workers, believed to have died from suffocation and burns, had been retrieved from the mine and that at least another 20 workers had been taken to hospital.

"They are pumping oxygen into the mine, but the fire is still burning. They say it is an electrical fault but it could be that coal is burning as well," Tamer Kucukgencay, chairman of the regional labor union, told Reuters by telephone.

Energy Minister Taner Yildiz confirmed that a fire had been triggered by an electrical fault and that workers had been killed, but declined to say how many.

He said the explosion was caused by a power distribution unit. Between 200 and 300 more workers are still inside the mine.
"Rescue efforts are underway," Atci told reporters.

Private NTV television said the accident occurred some 2 km deep inside the mine.