Turks heckle Erdogan after mining disaster

Riot police use water cannon to disperse protesters during a demonstration blaming the ruling AK Party (AKP) government for the mining disaster in western Turkey, in central Istanbul May 14, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

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.

274 dead in Turkey's worst-ever mine disaster

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 cosy 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.