Turkey: At least 25 killed in coal mine explosion - Dozens trapped

Another 11 workers are hospitalized with injuries, while the number of those trapped in its galleries remains unclear mine.

It is estimated that around 110 workers were inside the mine at the time of the explosion.

Throughout the night rescuers made frantic efforts to locate trapped.

The explosion occurred at a depth of 300 meters from the mine entrance in the town of Amasra, around 18:15 on Friday afternoon.

"We are facing a sad situation," said Turkey's interior minister Suleiman Soilou, who visited the scene of the tragedy together with the Minister of Energy Fatih Donmez.

The president Recep Tayyip Erdogan canceled his scheduled meetings to travel to the area today. In a post on Twitter, he expressed the hope that the death toll does not rise further and that the miners who remain trapped in the galleries are freed safe and sound.

The fatal accident evoked memories of the 2014 tragedy at a coal mine in the town of Soma, in western turkey, where 301 workers had died.