Story highlights Foreign Minister defends PM, says Erdogan "always feels the pain of the people" 
 
 PM's aide seen kicking a protester tells Turkish media he regrets not staying calm 
 
 Minister says 283 are confirmed dead after fire inside a mine in western Turkey 
 
 Protesters lay symbolic coffins at government buildings, rail against PM Erdogan 
 
 The image of an aide to Turkey's Prime Minister kicking a man protesting the mine disaster that has claimed nearly 300 lives has prompted outrage -- and has become a symbol of the anger felt against the government. 
 
 The incident occurred as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited the western city of Soma a day after the devastating mine fire. 
 
 The man, detained by special forces, can be seen lying on the ground as the suited adviser to Erdogan, identified as Yusuf Yerkel by Turkish media and CNN Turk, aims a kick at him. 
 
 The shocking image outraged many in Turkey, prompting an outpouring of anger on social media, and is seen as symbolizing the increasingly polarizing impact of Erdogan's authority on the country. 
 
 It's been nearly a year since anti-government protests first roiled Istanbul, prompting a response from authorities that was widely criticized as heavy-handed. 
 
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 Yerkel was quoted by Turkey's semi-official Anadolu news agency as saying that he had been deeply saddened by Wednesday's events. "I am sad that I could not keep my calm in the face of all the provocation, insults, and attacks that I was subjected to that day," he reportedly said. 
 
 Besides the anger prompted by the photo, Erdogan's speech Wednesday to relatives of dead and injured miners was seen as insensitive and drew scathing criticism. 
 
 As public anger mounted through the evening, hundreds took to the streets in anti-government protests in Istanbul and Ankara, with police answering, in some cases, with water cannons and tear gas. 
 
 In Ankara, the nation's capital, some left black coffins in front of the Energy Ministry and the Labor and Social Security ministry buildings. Meanwhile, unions called for strikes across the country on Thursday. 
 
 At the mine, where what has become more of a recovery effort than a rescue continued, the mood was sullen, but there was little sign of the burning anger seen elsewhere over the accident. 
 
 Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said the number of coal miners confirmed dead had risen by one to 283, as of Thursday evening. 
 
 Three injured miners remain in the hospital, he said. The recovery operation is expected to continue overnight and into Friday. 
 
 A 'sorrow for the whole Turkish nation' 
 
 President Abdullah Gul offered words of comfort as he visited the western city, a day after his premier attracted public ire. 
 
 The mine fire is a "sorrow for the whole Turkish nation," Gul told reporters, and he offered his condolences to the victims' families. 
 
 Onlookers listened silently until a man interrupted Gul with shouts: "Please, President! Help us, please!" 
 
 An investigation into the disaster has begun, Gul said, adding that he was sure this would "shed light" on what regulations are needed. "Whatever is necessary will be done," he said. 
 
 He commended mining as a precious profession. "There's no doubt that mining and working ... to earn your bread underground perhaps is the most sacred" of undertakings, he told reporters. 
 
 Gul had entered the mine site with an entourage of many dozens of people -- mostly men in dark suits -- walking through a crowd of rescue workers who were standing behind loosely assembled police barricades. 
 
 Rescue and recovery workers retrieved more bodies Thursday from the still smoldering coal mine. 
 
 Resignation marked the workers' faces after they had stood and sat outside the mine for hours, idle and waiting. Some of them passed the time talking on cell phones, others smoking or taking off their hard hats and burying their faces in their hands. 
 
 With hope of finding survivors nearly gone, it appeared there was little they could do. 
 
 Funerals amid grief 
 
 Smoke and fumes are hindering efforts to reach more of those still missing below the surface and lessen the chances that any more will be found alive, even in special "safe" chambers equipped with oxygen and other supplies. Fourteen bodies were found in one such chamber. 
 
 More than a day has passed since anyone was pulled out alive. 
 
 Rescuers saved at least 88 miners in the frantic moments after a power transformer blew up Tuesday during a shift change at the mine, sparking a choking fire deep inside. 
 
 Since then, the bodies of nearly 200 miners who were trapped in the burning shaft nearly a mile underground have been returned to their families. 
 
 "Enough, for the life for me!" yelled one woman -- her arms flailing, tears running down her cheeks. "Let this mine take my life, too!" 
 
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 Map of the mine location 
 
 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – Friends and relatives of dead miners pray at a cemetery on Saturday, May 17. The search for victims of this week's coal mine fire in Soma is now over, with a final death toll of 301, Turkish government officials said Saturday. Hide Caption 1 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – Mourners reach out to touch the coffin of a miner recovered from the Soma mine on May 17. Hide Caption 2 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – A relative offers her prayers next to the grave of a loved one in Soma on Friday, May 16. Hide Caption 3 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – Family members mourn at the grave of a victim on May 16. Hide Caption 4 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – A woman attends the burial of victims in Soma on Thursday, May 15. Hide Caption 5 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – A woman waits on the ground at the disaster scene Wednesday, May 14. Hide Caption 6 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – A man weeps over the body of a miner being pulled from the mine in Soma on May 14. Hide Caption 7 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – People gather near rows of open graves for victims in Soma on May 14. Hide Caption 8 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – A rescue worker prepares stretchers for the search for miners on May 14. Hide Caption 9 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, center, surrounded by security, visits the coal mine on May 14. Hundreds have taken to the streets of Istanbul and Ankara since the disaster in protest of the government and poor safety regulations. Unions have called for strikes across the country on May 15. Hide Caption 10 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – The crowd reacts as rescue workers carry the body of a miner in Soma on May 14. Hide Caption 11 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – Miners and relatives wait for news outside the mine on May 14. Hide Caption 12 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – A family member cries as rescue workers carry a survivor from the mine on May 14. Hide Caption 13 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – Miners rest after hours of working with the rescue operation on May 14. Hide Caption 14 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – A miner covers his face after being affected by toxic gas during rescue operations on May 14. Hide Caption 15 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – Rescue workers carry a miner to an ambulance on May 14. Hide Caption 16 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – Rescue workers carry a survivor from the mine on May 14. Hide Caption 17 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – People await news about relatives in front of a Soma hospital on May 14. Hide Caption 18 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – Rescue workers continue their efforts on May 14. Hide Caption 19 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – Miners wait outside the mine in the early hours of May 14. Hide Caption 20 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – Rescuers help carry away a miner on May 14. Hide Caption 21 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – Relatives try to get information outside a Soma hospital on Tuesday, May 13. Hide Caption 22 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – An injured miner gets pulled from the mine on May 13. Hide Caption 23 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – Rescue workers and relatives gather at the mine on May 13. Hide Caption 24 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – An injured miner is carried out by rescue workers. The mine shaft is about two-thirds of a mile -- or 1 kilometer -- underground, a disaster agency said. Hide Caption 25 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – Miners stand by after the explosion. About 100 rescuers, dozens of ambulances and helicopters were dispatched to the scene. Hide Caption 26 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – Miners and relatives wait outside the mine on May 13. Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said officials turned an exit pipe "into a clean air pipe," so "there is fresh air being given in places where there is no fire." Hide Caption 27 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – Turkish women await news of their relatives who are trapped underground. Hide Caption 28 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – Rescue operations continue at the site of the accident on May 13. Hide Caption 29 of 30 Photos: Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey Coal mine disaster in Turkey – A massive crowd watches as rescuers work into the night. Hide Caption 30 of 30 
 
 JUST WATCHED Turkish opposition demanded mine reforms Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Turkish opposition demanded mine reforms 01:19 
 
 Funerals took place Thursday in a community stricken with grief. 
 
 Autopsies on dozens of bodies revealed the miners died of carbon monoxide poisoning. 
 
 Erdogan said Wednesday that as many as 120 more were trapped inside the mine, though that was before rescue crews grimly hurried a series of stretchers -- at least some clearly carrying corpses -- past the waiting crowd. 
 
 In his much-criticized speech to the relatives of the dead and injured, the Prime Minister glossed over the issue of mine safety, describing the carnage they had suffered as par for the course in their dangerous business. 
 
 Apparently on the defensive, he rattled off a string of horrible past accidents, even going back to an example from 19th-century Britain. 
 
 As he took a stroll through the city, onlookers showered him with deafening jeers as well as chants of "Resign, Prime Minister!" 
 
 Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu defended the government's response and Erdogan during an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Thursday. 
 
 "All the efforts will be done to check what was wrong, if there was anything wrong during this disaster or before," he said, stressing the country's standards are "quite high." 
 
 About Erdogan, Davutoglu said: "He was feeling all these pains in his heart. Everybody knows that our Prime Minister is always with the people, and always feels the pain of the people. Otherwise, he wouldn't get such a high support in eight elections in (the) last 10 years." 
 
 Scathing engineers' accusations 
 
 A group of engineers investigating the cause of the inferno made a scandalous accusation. 
 
 "WHAT HAPPENED IN SOMA IS NOT FATE, IT IS MURDER," a local branch of the Chamber of Electrical Engineers wrote in all capital letters at the top of its official statement Wednesday. 
 
 Although the group is not known for any party affiliation and comprises serious experts, such barbs have become common in a country riven with political division, where street protests and water cannons have become a familiar sight. 
 
 The statement also reflects the anguish that has shaken Turkey after what looks to be the deadliest mine disaster in its history. 
 
 The latest death toll already tops a mining accident in the 1990s that took 260 lives. 
 
 The chamber of electricians also contradicted the official version of how the fire started, saying: "The fire was not caused by an electrical situation as presented to the public in the first statements." 
 
 The assessment from inspectors from the chamber's local branch in Izmir on what happened suggests negligence may have played a part. 
 
 "The inspection revealed that the systems to sense poisonous and explosive gases in the mine and the systems to manage the air systems were insufficient and old," they said. 
 
 The blaze started as a "coal fire" at 700 meters deep, and then air fans pushed the flames and smoke farther through the mine, the chamber concluded. The ventilation was not corrected until "much later." 
 
 The miners were trapped and inundated with smoke and fire. 
 
 Soma's public prosecutor's office has started an investigation of its own into the fire, Turkey's semiofficial Anadolu news agency reported. 
 
 Political bonfire 
 
 The chamber's accusations land on top of those already heaped on Erdogan's government by his political opponents. 
 
 Opposition politician Ozgur Ozel from the Manisa region, which includes Soma, filed a proposal in late April to investigate Turkish mines after repeated deadly accidents. 
 
 He has said that he is sick of going to funerals for miners in his district. 
 
 Several dozen members of opposition parties signed on to his proposal, but Erdogan's conservative government overturned it. Some of its members publicly lampooned it, an opposition spokesman said. 
 
 The mine, owned by SOMA Komur Isletmeleri A.S., underwent regular inspections in the past three years, two of them this March, Turkey's government said. Inspectors reported no violation of health and safety laws. 
 
 Waiting on dead friends 
 
 For Veysel Sengul, a miner waiting by the mine's entrance for more of his friends to emerge, the mourning may go on much longer than the three days of official grieving ordered by Erdogan. 
 
 After what's happened, he said, he'll never work in a mine again. 
 
 Rescuers haven't given up hope that some miners reached emergency chambers stocked with gas masks and air and could still be alive. 
 
 But Yildiz, the energy minister, said "hopes are diminishing" of rescuing anyone yet inside the mine. 
 
 Sengul has already given up. The miner knows that at least four of his friends are dead. ||||| SOMA, Turkey (AP) — Women sang improvised ballads about the departed over freshly dug graves Thursday, even as backhoes carved row upon row of graves into the dirt and hearses lined up outside the cemetery with more victims of Turkey's worst mining disaster. 
 
 In this Wednesday, May 14, 2014 photo, Yusuf Yerkel, right, advisor to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, stands behind Erdogan during his visit in Soma, Turkey. Yerkel was identified by Turkish... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this Wednesday, May 14, 2014 photo, Yusuf Yerkel, right, advisor to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, stands behind Erdogan during his visit in Soma, Turkey. Yerkel was identified by Turkish... (Associated Press) 
 
 People wait outside a coal mine in Soma, western Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2014. An explosion and fire at the coal mine in Soma, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Istanbul, killed hundreds of workers,... (Associated Press) 
 
 People wait outside the mine in Soma, western Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2014. An explosion and fire at a coal mine in Soma, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Istanbul, killed hundreds of workers,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Members of the Turkish forces wait outside a coal mine in Soma, western Turkey, early Thursday, May 15, 2014. Rescue teams recovered more victims of Turkey's worst mining accident on Thursday, raising... (Associated Press) 
 
 Relatives of miners wait near a coal mine in Soma, western Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2014. An explosion and fire at the coal mine in Soma, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Istanbul, killed hundreds... (Associated Press) 
 
 Miners wait outside the entrance of a coal mine in Soma, western Turkey, early Thursday, May 15, 2014. Rescue teams recovered more victims of Turkey's worst mining accident on Thursday, raising the... (Associated Press) 
 
 Members of the Turkish forces wait outside a coal mine in Soma, western Turkey, early Thursday, May 15, 2014. An explosion and fire at the coal mine in Soma, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Istanbul,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Relatives of miners wait outside a coal mine in Soma, western Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2014. An explosion and fire at the coal mine in Soma, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Istanbul, killed... (Associated Press) 
 
 Relatives of miners wait near a coal mine in Soma, western Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2014. An explosion and fire at the coal mine in Soma, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Istanbul, killed hundreds... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this photo taken Wednesday, May 14, 2014 a person identified by Turkish media as Yusuf Yerkel, advisor to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, kicks a protester already held by special forces... (Associated Press) 
 
 Miners and members of the rescue services wait outside a coal mine in Soma, western Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2014. An explosion and fire at the coal mine in Soma, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) south... (Associated Press) 
 
 A youth waits outside a coal mine in Soma, western Turkey, early Thursday, May 15, 2014. Rescue teams recovered more victims of Turkey's worst mining accident on Thursday, raising the death toll to over... (Associated Press) 
 
 Miners and members of the rescue services wait outside a coal mine in Soma, western Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2014. An explosion and fire at the coal mine in Soma, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) south... (Associated Press) 
 
 Rescue teams recovered another eight victims, raising the death toll to 282, with some 142 people still unaccounted for, according to government figures. The disaster Tuesday has set off protests around Turkey and thrown Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's presidential ambitions off stride. Blackening his reputation further, one of Erdogan's aides was accused of kicking a protester on the ground. 
 
 At a graveyard in the western town of Soma, where coal mining has been the main industry for decades, women wailed loudly in an improvised display of mourning. They swayed and sang songs about their relatives as the bodies were taken from coffins and lowered into their graves. Pictures of the lost relatives were pinned onto their clothing. 
 
 "The love of my life is gone," some sang, chanting the names of dead miners. 
 
 No miner has been brought out alive since dawn Wednesday from the Soma coal mine where the explosion and fire took place. Many mourners said they spent their whole lives fearing something like this. 
 
 "The wives of the miners kiss their husbands in the morning. When they come back, even if they are five minutes late, everyone starts calling. You never know what is going to happen," said Gulizar Donmez, 45, the daughter and wife of a miner and neighbor of one of the victims. 
 
 Energy Minister Taner Yildiz on Thursday announced that a fire inside the mine was dying down, offering hope that rescuers would soon be able to speed up their search for those missing. 
 
 Erdogan, who is expected to soon announce his candidacy for Turkey's presidential election in August, was not welcome during his visit to the area Wednesday. He was forced to take refuge at a supermarket after angry crowds called him a murderer and a thief, in a reference to alleged corruption, and clashed with police. 
 
 Turkish newspapers Cumhuriyet, Milliyet and others on Thursday printed photographs they said were of an Erdogan aide kicking a protester who was on the ground and being held by special forces police. The papers identified the aide as Yusuf Yerkel. 
 
 The prime minister's office on Thursday distanced itself from the incident, with one official saying the issue was "his own personnel matter." The official, who was not authorized to give his name to the press without authorization, confirmed there was a "melee" as Erdogan entered a building but denied Turkish media reports that he had thrown a punch. 
 
 Turkish President Abdullah Gul, visiting Soma on Thursday, described the events in Soma as "a huge disaster." 
 
 "The pain is felt by us all," he said. The mood was more restrained than during Erdogan's visit, though locals angry at what they saw as the slow rescue operation still shouted jibes at him, demanding more should be done to reach possible survivors. 
 
 Erdogan appeared somewhat tone-deaf to residents' grief Wednesday, calling mining accidents "ordinary things" that occur in many other countries after giving examples of 19th-century mine accidents in Britain. 
 
 Erdogan has made no secret of his desire to become Turkey's first popularly elected president. His party swept local elections in March despite a corruption scandal that forced him to dismiss four government ministers in December and later also implicated him and family members. Erdogan denies corruption, calling the allegations part of a plot to bring his government down. 
 
 Protests broke out in Istanbul, Ankara and other cities Wednesday over the deaths and poor safety conditions at mines around the country. In Istanbul and Izmir, authorities used water cannons and tear gas to break up the protests. Turkey's largest trade union confederation, representing some 800,000 workers, joined a one-day strike by other unions to demand better conditions for workers. 
 
 Miners in Zonguldak, obeying the strike, gathering in front of a pit Thursday but did not enter it. In Istanbul, a group chanted anti-government slogans and carried a large banner that read: "It's not an accident, it's murder." 
 
 Yildiz, the energy minister, said the search for survivors had been hampered by a mine fire that had spread to a conveyor system — engulfing a 200 meter-long (650-foot) stretch — but progress had been made on extinguishing it. Rescue operations have been suspended several times as burning coal inside created toxic fumes and too-risky conditions for the rescue teams. 
 
 Authorities said the disaster followed an explosion and a fire at a power distribution unit, and most deaths were caused by carbon monoxide poisoning. 
 
 Yildiz said emergency crews had detected a drop in carbon monoxide levels "which means that the fire has gotten smaller." 
 
 "God willing, in two or three hours if we are able to extinguish this fire, we will be able to hasten our (rescue) work," he said. 
 
 The government has said 787 people were inside the coal mine at the time of Tuesday's explosion, and that 383 were rescued, many with injuries. Tuesday's explosion tore through the mine as workers were preparing for a shift change, which likely raised the casualty toll. 
 
 The death toll made it Turkey's worst mining accident, topping a 1992 gas explosion that killed 263 workers near the Black Sea port of Zonguldak. 
 
 Mining accidents are common in Turkey, which is plagued by poor safety conditions. Erdogan promised that Tuesday's tragedy would be investigated to its "smallest detail" and that "no negligence will be ignored." Hurriyet newspaper reported that a team of 15 prosecutors has been assigned to investigate the accident. 
 
 Turkey's Labor and Social Security Ministry said the mine had been inspected five times since 2012, most recently in March, when no safety violations were detected. But the country's main opposition party said Erdogan's ruling party had recently voted down a proposal to hold a parliamentary inquiry into a series of small-scale accidents at the mines around Soma. 
 
 __ 
 
 Suzan Fraser reported from Ankara. ||||| Fury has erupted in Turkey after a close aide to the Recep Tayyip Erdogan brutally assaulted a man thought to be grieving for relatives in the mining town where almost 300 people lost their lives underground. 
 
 Mr Erdogan, who has led Turkey for 11 years, was visibly shocked by the hostile reaction in Soma during a visit on Wednesday when he was forced to take refuge at a supermarket. 
 
 Video published in Turkey showed scuffles around the prime minister and one of his staff, Yusuf Yerkel, kicking a man being held down by paramilitary police. Mr Yerkel, who was a PhD candidate at Soas in 2010, told BBC Turkish that he would be making a statement about the image on Thursday. 
 
 The angry crowds in Soma called Mr Erdogan a murderer and thief and booed strongly. 
 
 A protester is kicked by Yusuf Yerkel, advisor to Tayyip Erdogan, as Special Forces officers hold him down (MEHMET ERMIN/REUTERS) 
 
 In his initial remarks after the disaster, which has so far claimed 282 lives, Mr Erdogan had earlier downplayed the disaster, calling mining accidents "ordinary things" that also occur in many other countries. He gave examples of 19th-century mine accidents in Britain. 
 
 The remarks revived anger at Mr Erdogan's failure to tackle the appalling safety record of the Turkish mining industry. When 30 people died in a mining disaster in 2010, Mr Erdogan said: 'Unfortunately, this profession has this in its destiny.” 
 
 Turkish police fired tear gas and water cannon at thousands of protesters in the city of Izmir on Thursday, as a 24-hour strike got underway over a deadly mine explosion. 
 
 Police intervened twice when around 20,000 protesters took to the streets of the western city to protest the death of the 282 miners. The incident is the country's worst ever industrial accident. 
 
 Turkish trade unions have launched a one-day strike in protest at mine safety. According to Turkey's Mine Workers Union, between 2000 and 2009 there were 25,655 accidents in mines run by the government agency, resulting in 63 deaths and 26,324 injuries. 
 
 The video of Mr Erdogan being booed, whistled and heckled by an angry mob as he was escorted to a shop by his security team also showed aides lashing out. 
 
 Demonstrators kicked his official car and while a crowd smashed up the local headquarters of the ruling AK Party. 
 
 Public anger has been fuelled by accusations that Erdogan's ruling AK Party dismissed a parliamentary motion submitted by the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) to investigate safety in the Soma mines as recently as 29 April. 
 
 Mr Erdogan said the CHP motion had "nothing to do with the Soma mine." 
 
 Separately Turkey's energy minister said he'd resign if there was a 15-year-old miner among the dead. 
 
 Video courtesy: Turkiyeden Haberler· ||||| SOMA, Turkey Furious Turks heckled Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and jostled his entourage on Wednesday as protests erupted in several cities over a coal mine disaster in which at least 274 people died, making it the worst industrial accident in the nation's history. 
 
 With rescuers still pulling bodies from the site in western Turkey, anger swept a country that has seen a decade of rapid economic growth but still suffers from one of the world's worst workplace safety records. 
 
 Erdogan expressed his regret after visiting the site in Soma, about 480 km (300 miles) southwest of Istanbul, where around 100 miners are thought to be still trapped underground following Tuesday's fire. "We as a nation of 77 million are experiencing a very great pain," he told a news conference. 
 
 But he appeared to turn defensive when asked whether sufficient precautions had been in place. "Explosions like this in these mines happen all the time. It's not like these don't happen elsewhere in the world," he said, reeling off a list of global mining accidents since 1862. 
 
 Angry residents broke windows at the local government offices in Soma, some chanting "Erdogan resign", while parts of the crowd lining the street booed as the prime minister walked through the town, jostling with members of his entourage. 
 
 Protesters later kicked Erdogan's car as it left the area. 
 
 Opponents of Erdogan - who has already faced mass protests against his rule in the past year - have attacked his government for leasing mines to parts of the private sector cozy with the ruling party, and accuse it of ignoring repeated warnings about their safety. 
 
 In Istanbul, police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse several thousand people, some wearing miners' hard hats and headlamps. Police also clashed with demonstrators in the capital Ankara and there were protests in other cities. 
 
 Many took to social media to express their outrage at the government's handling of the crisis. "Beyond ridiculous. Turkish PM cites 19th century Britain to prove mining accidents are 'typical'," one user wrote on Twitter. 
 
 MOURNERS WEEP 
 
 Fire knocked out power at the mine and shut down ventilation shafts and elevators on Tuesday afternoon. Emergency workers pumped oxygen into the mine to try to keep those trapped alive during a rescue effort that lasted through the night. Thousands of family members and co-workers gathered outside the town's hospital searching for information on their loved ones. 
 
 "We haven't heard anything from any of them, not among the injured, not among the list of dead," said one elderly woman, Sengul, whose two nephews worked in the mine along with the sons of two of her neighbors. 
 
 "It's what people do here, risking their lives for two cents ... They say one gallery in the mine has not been reached, but it's almost been a day," she said. 
 
 A mechanical digger opened a row of fresh graves at Soma's main cemetery. An imam presided over the funeral of six miners as a few hundred mourners wept in silence. 
 
 The fire broke out during a shift change, leading to uncertainty over the exact number of miners trapped. Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said the death toll as of 1930 GMT on Wednesday was 274, making it Turkey's deadliest accident. Late on Tuesday he said 787 workers had been in the mine. 
 
 Yildiz warned that "hopes were dimming" of finding many more survivors. 
 
 Turkey's safety record in coal mining has been poor for decades, with its previous worst accident in 1992, when a gas blast killed 263 workers in the Black Sea province of Zonguldak. 
 
 The mine operator Soma Komur Isletmeleri said nearly 450 miners had been rescued and that the deaths were caused by carbon monoxide. It said the cause was not yet clear. 
 
 Initial reports suggested an electrical fault caused the blaze but Mehmet Torun, a board member and former head of the Chamber of Mining Engineers who was at the scene, said a disused coal seam had heated up, expelling carbon monoxide through the mine's tunnels and galleries. 
 
 "They are ventilating the shafts but carbon monoxide kills in 3 or 5 minutes," he told Reuters by telephone. 
 
 "Unless we have a major miracle, we shouldn't expect anyone to emerge alive at this point," he said, pointing to an outside chance that workers may have found air pockets to survive. 
 
 EXHAUSTED RESCUERS 
 
 The disaster highlighted Turkey's poor record on worker safety and drew renewed opposition calls for an inquiry into a drop in safety standards at previously state-run mines. The International Labour Organization ranked the EU candidate nation third worst in the world for worker deaths in 2012. 
 
 Erdogan earlier declared three days of national mourning and canceled an official visit to Albania. President Abdullah Gul also canceled a trip to China scheduled for Thursday in order to travel to Soma. 
 
 A pall of smoke hung above the area of the mine and Yildiz said the fire was still burning underground, hampering the rescue operation, which was halted for several hours as the evening wore on to allow exhausted rescuers to recover. 
 
 Turkey's disaster management agency AFAD said in an email 85 people had been treated for their injuries. 
 
 Freezer trucks and a cold storage warehouse usually used for food served as makeshift morgues as hospital facilities overflowed. Medical staff intermittently emerged from the hospital to read the names of survivors being treated inside, with families and fellow workers clamoring for information. 
 
 "This isn't a huge city. Everyone has neighbors, relatives or friends injured, dead or still trapped. I am trying to prepare my family for the worst," said Hasan Dogan, 27, watching TV news reports from a canteen set up outside the hospital. 
 
 Some 16,000 people from a population of 105,000 in the district of Soma work in the mining industry, according to Erkan Akcay, a local opposition politician. The district is no stranger to tragedies, but never before on this scale. 
 
 The words "For those who give a life for a handful of coal" are engraved on the entrance wall to the emergency clinic. 
 
 Teams of psychiatrists were being pulled together to counsel the families of victims. Paramilitary police guarded the entrance to the mine to keep distressed relatives at a safe distance, as residents offered soup, water and bread. 
 
 "They haven't brought any ambulances in such a long time that we've started to lose hope," said Hatice Ersoy, 43, a woman in a headscarf sitting on a pavement outside the hospital. 
 
 POOR RECORD 
 
 Turkey's rapid growth over the past decade has seen a construction boom and a scramble to meet soaring energy demand, with worker safety standards often failing to keep pace. It is a net importer of coal. 
 
 The Labour Ministry said late on Tuesday its officials had carried out regular inspections at the Soma mine, most recently in March, and that no irregularities had been detected. 
 
 But Hursit Gunes, a deputy from the main opposition Republican People's Party, said a previous request for a parliamentary inquiry into safety and working conditions at mines around Soma had been rejected by the ruling AK Party. 
 
 "I'm going to renew that parliamentary investigation demand today. If (the government) has been warned about this and they did nothing, then people will be angry, naturally. The opposition warned them. But there's unbelievable lethargy on this issue," Gunes told Reuters. 
 
 The ILO in 2012 said Turkey had the highest rate of worker deaths in Europe and the world's third-highest. In the mining sector, 61 people died in 2012, according to the ILO's latest statistics. Between 2002 and 2012, the death toll at Turkish mines totaled more than 1,000. 
 
 (Additional reporting by Yesim Dikmen in Soma; Humeyra Pamuk, Ayla Jean Yackley, Daren Butler, Dasha Afanasieva, Asli Kandemir and Evrim Ergin in Istanbul; Gulsen Solaker and Jonny Hogg in Ankara; Writing by Nick Tattersall and Jonny Hogg; Editing by Peter Graff and David Stamp)
– With the death toll now at 282 and the hope of finding survivors diminishing, anger over yesterday's mine disaster in Turkey is spiking fast—and some aren't hesitating to point fingers. "WHAT HAPPENED IN SOMA IS NOT FATE, IT IS MURDER," a branch of the Chamber of Electrical Engineers wrote yesterday, claiming the cause of the fire was negligence, not "an electrical situation as presented to the public." The group said, per CNN, "the investigation revealed that the systems to sense poisonous and explosive gases in the mine and the systems to manage the air systems were insufficient and old" and air fans actually pushed flames farther through the mine; ventilation wasn't righted until "much later." A video, obtained by the Telegraph, isn't helping the government's standing after news that an opposition motion to inspect the mines was shot down last month. It appears to show an aide to PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan kicking a grieving protester, held down by paramilitary police in Soma, where protesters have vandalized a local ruling party office. Erdogan has said the opposition motion had "nothing to do with the Soma mine." Already Turkey's worst ever industrial accident, the death toll could reach 400 as 150 miners are still underground and no survivors have been found since yesterday morning, the Guardian notes. CNN adds the bodies of 200 miners have been returned to their families, while the AP reports on the songs of heartbreak being sung as backhoes dig rows of graves and funerals begin en masse.