With their soot-smeared faces drained from exhaustion, Turkish miners are at a loss to describe the disaster that killed their friends in Friday’s coal mine explosion.

“Words are not enough,” said Erdogan Yanardag, who was on the day shift at the moment when the explosion swept through the mine near the small mining town of Amasra on Turkey’s Black Sea coast just before sunset.

The 43-year-old rushed to the scene to help with the rescue effort and worked through the night to carry survivors out of the mine.

The charcoal stains on his clothes were evidence of hours of exertion.

“Everyone grabbed the stretchers, some in the back, some in the middle and some in the front,” he said.

No matter where in the world it happens, it’s impossible for families to remain indifferent in the face of a disaster like this, Yanardag said.

“Everyone who heard about the blast — miners’ families, neighbors and relatives — rushed here,” he added.

Such (accidents) are “in the DNA of mining”.

Yanardag and others were saddened by the deaths of the miners – 41 in all.

Preliminary results suggest a build-up of methane gas underground may have been to blame, authorities said.

Adem Usluoglu, who works for another mine in the area, heard the news on his way home from work and ran to help rescue workers.

“People were burned or seriously injured by the force of the explosion. It’s a big catastrophe,” he said.

“I’m in a lot of pain. Words are not enough to describe it,” he told AFP.

“We have come to a point where words are not enough. Our throats are stuck and our tongues can’t get around the words,” he added.

“We don’t want to experience that kind of suffering again. I can’t say anything more about it.”

Around 600 workers are believed to work at the Amasra mine, which produces 300,000 to 400,000 tons of coal a year.

Ilyas Borekci, deputy head of neighboring energy and mining company Hattat, dispatched three special rescue teams a few meters (yards) from the blast site to pull out survivors.

“Our friends went into the mine and stayed there for four, five hours and then had to take a break because the methane levels were increasing,” he said.

“The methane level was constantly monitored. The friends who went down the mine to rescue the miners had in their hands mobile devices, special breathing apparatus.

“Otherwise it’s not possible to go down there,” he added.

The rescue workers then tried to contain the fire and stop it from spreading.

The only way to survive such a massive explosion is to get out immediately, Borekci explained.

Respirators and ventilators are only enough for about 45 minutes. Breathe in too much carbon monoxide and it will kill you.

“There are no pocket rooms in the mine, no habitats,” he said.

“The best thing is to get out as soon as possible.”

As his teams made their way back down the mine in the early hours of Saturday morning, they were faced with the tragic sight of dead bodies.

Borekci was in tears as he described the scene.

The survivors, unable to speak, were taken to the hospital.

Local prosecutors are treating the explosion as an accident and have launched a formal investigation.