Six miners died from methane gas poisoning after a coal shaft partially collapsed in Turkey's Black Sea town of Zonguldak, the state Anatolian news agency said on Friday. It said the incident occurred on Thursday evening and rescue operations had continued through the night but in vain. Energy Minister Hilmi Guler attended Friday's funeral service. Mining accidents are common in Turkey, where a lack of investment has been blamed for poor maintenance and shoddy construction. Seventeen coal miners died from methane gas poisoning in April after an explosion trapped them beneath rubble at a mine near the western town of Gediz. Turkey's worst mining disaster was in 1992, when 270 miners were killed in a methane gas explosion near the Black Sea.
