KARAMAN
The ongoing rescue efforts in the recent mining accident in central Turkey on October 28 when 18 mining workers became trapped in a flooded mine, is becoming progressively harder in the deeper areas of the mine, according to Turkey's energy minister.
According to Taner Yildiz, the flood water is not coming through from any other water source as was suspected earlier.
"It is understood that there is no place in the mine that we cannot reach and therefore it is possible for us to reach the trapped bodies," said Yildiz.
On Thursday, search and rescue teams found the bodies of two of the 18 workers trapped in the flooded mine.
The minister said the DNA of the two deceased miners was sent to the forensic medicine institute for identification and the results will be delivered to their families.
He also said that he plans to meet with the mine company's owner in the near future.
There were 34 workers inside the mine located some 400 kilometers south of the capital, Ankara, in Karaman’s Ermenek district, when a water pipe exploded and caused the flood.
Rescue efforts continue to retrieve the remaining workers' bodies.
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