Coal dust and smoke hung in the air and everyone was awake waiting for news as night fell in the small town of Soma.
At the mine where more than 270 people lost their lives in what is now known to be deadliest labour incident in Turkey's history, rescue workers from all over the country were still trying to bring up those still trapped underground.
Standing by the entrance to the site where 24 hours earlier a huge blast had ripped through the coalmine, four miners discussed the accident, none of them wanting to give their names. "We are waiting, still waiting," said one. "We don't have any hope left that anyone still in the mine will come out alive. We have friends down there, many friends."
One policeman guarding the rescue corridor nodded. "Since I started working here today, there have not been any survivors." According to official numbers, at least 120 men are still trapped underground.
"Production pressure has massively increased," said one worker. "It's all about the output. If all they worry about how fast the lines run and how much coal they can bring up and how much profit to make, the people who do this work become unimportant. And what happens to them becomes unimportant."
Murat Ari, a paramedic with the Izmir fire department, wore a sticker on his uniform which read: "Not an accident, but murder."
This, he said, was to show solidarity with the workers and their families. "We really feel their grief," he said. "Seeing all these desperate people waiting in front of the hospital really got to me."
Ari said that rescue works had been very difficult: "The fire is still ongoing. As soon as it is under control again, we will continue. The rescue conditions are very bad." At least 500 rescue personnel were working in the Soma coalmine, trying to bring up those still trapped underground. Two rescue dogs, Pasha and Sivas, have been brought in from Ankara.
Many mine workers from other cities and mines have joined the rescue efforts in Soma. One, a goldminer who did not want to give his name for company policy reasons, said that work safety was a big problem in Turkey. "We still have a long way to go. Be it laws or the companies themselves, there are so many deficits, and coalmining is probably the most difficult and dangerous job in the mining industry here."
He said that production pressure was the biggest problem: "It's all about how much you can get out in one day. Work safety just stays behind with such an attitude."
When asked about the Turkish prime minister's Recep Tayyep Erdogan comments at apress conference, where he said that "these accidents were part of coalmining", the mine worker got angry.