Mine shaft is more than half-mile deep

Rescue workers and relatives gather at a coal mine in the western Turkish province of Manisa on Tuesday, May 13. A fire caused by a transformer explosion in the coal mine left more than 150 people dead and trapped hundreds more, officials said.

Relatives try to get information outside a hospital in Soma, Turkey, after the explosion and fire.

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.

Miners stand by after the explosion. About 100 rescuers, dozens of ambulances and helicopters were dispatched to the scene.

Miners and relatives wait outside the mine. 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."

Turkish women await news of their relatives who are trapped underground.

Rescue operations continue at the site of the accident.

A massive crowd watches as rescuers work into the night.

• NEW: Official death toll grows rapidly, now at 151 people


• Local mayor, however, puts the death toll at 157


• More than 200 workers are still stranded, disaster agency says


• Clean air is reaching parts of the mine where there is no fire, energy minister says

(CNN) -- A fire caused by a transformer explosion in a coal mine in western Turkey has left 151 people dead, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said in a statement Wednesday.

The Natural Disaster and Emergency Coordination Directorate also said 80 injured people have been rescued and eight uninjured people were rescued. Crowds gathered around the rescue operation in the post-midnight darkness Wednesday.

Manisa Mayor Cengiz Ergun told CNN Turk that the death toll is 157.

Early Wednesday, CNN Turk aired the rescue of one miner to a cheering crowd.

More than 200 workers were still stranded late Tuesday, according to preliminary findings by Turkey's Manisa Natural Disaster and Emergency Coordination Directorate.

A huge rescue operation begins

Ergun said 30 workers had been rescued, but he earlier said as many as 400 workers might still be underground.

The Turkish national disaster and emergency agency, however, said 21 workers have been rescued, and 11 of them are being treated for injuries.

The mine shaft is about two-thirds of a mile -- or 1 kilometer -- underground, the disaster agency said.

Earlier, a member of Parliament from Manisa said 16 people were being treated for injuries. The dead and injured seemed to be suffering from burns and suffocation, said Muzaffer Yurttas.

The incident involved an explosion in a transformer, said Energy Minister Taner Yildiz.

About 100 rescuers, dozens of ambulances and a helicopters were dispatched to the scene, the agency said.

"The rescue teams are very experienced," he said. "They know what they need to do."

In the initial moments after the blast, "it was important for there to be clean air going underground," 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," he said.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaking in Ankara, said the country is working "to rescue our stranded brothers."

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