Forty one miners have now been confirmed dead following an explosion at the Amasra Muessese Mudurlugu Coal Mine in Bartin Province, on the north coast of Anatolian Turkey, on Friday 14 October 2022. All of the 110 workers who were below ground at the mine have now been accounted for, with 28 suffering injuries, 11 of whom required hospital treatment, one having subsequently been discharged. The explosion is reported to have occurred at a depth of about 300 m, 49 of them working in what is considered to be the mines 'danger zone' between 300 and 350 m below the surface, where the coal is particularly rich in methane gas.
Coal is formed when buried organic material, principally wood, in heated and pressurised, forcing off hydrogen and oxygen (i.e. water) and leaving more-or-less pure carbon. Methane is formed by the decay of organic material within the coal. There is typically little pore-space within coal, but the methane can be trapped in a liquid form under pressure. Some countries have started to extract this gas as a fuel in its own right. When this pressure is released suddenly, as by mining activity, then the methane turns back to a gas, expanding rapidly causing, an explosion. This is a bit like the pressure being released on a carbonated drink; the term 'explosion' does not necessarily imply fire in this context, although as methane is flammable this is quite likely.
Fire is much feared in coal mines due to this combination of flammable gas and solids, with methane and coal dust both potentially explosive when they come into contact with naked flames. To make matters worse, the limited oxygen supply in mines often means that such fires will involve incomplete combustion, in which all the oxygen is used up, but instead of forming carbon dioxide forms the much more deadly carbon dioxide, with potentially lethal consequences for anyone in the mine.
As coal is comprised more-or-less of pure carbon, and therefore reacts freely with oxygen (particularly when in dust form), to create carbon dioxide and (more-deadly) carbon monoxide, while at the same time depleting the supply of oxygen. This means that subterranean coal mines need good ventilation systems, and that fatalities can occur if these break down.
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