Turkish mine rescue ends in Soma with a final death toll of 301

All corners searched ... rescue workers began to wind up their operation after two more bodies were found, believed to be the last of the missing miners, bringing the death toll to 301. Picture: Ozgu Ozdemir Source: Getty Images

TURKEY has declared rescue operations over following this week’s devastating coal blast, after retrieving the bodies of the last two trapped miners whose death lifted the final toll to 301.

“The rescue operation was carried out to completion. There are no miners left underground,” Energy Minister Taner Yildiz told reporters in the western town of Soma, site of the country’s worst ever industrial disaster.

Mr Yildiz said 485 miners escaped or were rescued.

Left behind ... mourners gather in a graveyard in Soma, Turkey after an explosion and a fire in a coal mine killed 301 workers. Picture: Bulent Kilic Source: AFP

“All corners of the mine were searched by a large team and there was no other body or living person,” he said.

“Until today we had focused on search and rescue efforts. Now we will be focusing on investigations, on what will happen about production,” Mr Yildiz said.

“We won’t be leaving (Soma) because the search efforts are ending,” he added. “There will be psychological and social support.”

Government and mining officials have insisted that the disaster was not due to negligence and the mine was inspected regularly. Akin Celik, the Soma mine’s operations manager, has said thick smoke from the underground fire killed many miners who had no gas masks. High levels of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide have also been a problem for rescue workers as well.

But one miner, 24-year-old Erdal Bicak, told The Associated Press that believes the disaster was due to negligence by the mining company.

Raw grief ... Azime Girgin, wife of miner Hayrettin Girgin, who lost his life in Soma, hugs her daughter Fatma Miray on May 17, 2014. Picture: Halit Onur Sandal Source: Getty Images

“The company is guilty,” Mr Bicak told The Associated Press, adding that managers had machines that measure methane gas levels. “The new gas levels had gotten too high and they didn’t tell us in time.”

Mr Yildiz said “the true cause of the accident will be assessed ... through different dimensions. There will be lessons to draw for the mining world.”