Hopes are fading for 18 miners who were trapped after a coal mine near the Pamuklu village in the Ermenek district of Karaman collapsed following a flash flood yesterday.

The incident at a mine owned by Has Şekerler Mining Company occurred around noon, when water that had accumulated underground flooded a gallery in the mine.

"This is the third flood at the mine," a miner who survived told Anadolu Agency, blaming the company. "It wouldn't happen if necessary precautions were taken."

An official from the mine who updated the number of trapped miners to 18 said that those who remained may have drowned. “We are pumping the water to rescue them. There is 50 meters of water, 350 meters underground. The masks can resist for two hours. There are two places where they can escape. But they may have drowned, because the water flooded [the gallery] suddenly,” mine official Şahin Uyar told private broadcaster NTV.

Energy Minister Taner Yıldız, who went to the scene to observe the rescue operations, together with Labor Minister Faruk Çelik and Transport Minister Lütfi Elvan, said that the water level in the mine had started to decrease almost 15 hours after the incident. "Approximately, 11,000 cubic meters of water flooded the mine," he said, as trapped miners remained below the level of the water.

The Minister remarked that the mine was closed and suspended operation due to deficiencies revealed during inspections in June, but restarted work following the correction of deficiencies 3 months later.

The Minister of Transportation, Maritime Affairs and Communications, Lütfi Elvan, said 34 workers were in the mine at the time of the incident which occurred as they were having lunch. Among the workers in the mine, 16 survived the incident which they described as a sudden water burst, he added.

In the meantime, over a thousand mining workers who had started a march to Turkish capital Ankara demanding the improvement of their working conditions, have canceled their demo and decided to go to the coal mine in Ermenek district of Karaman today.