The two seriously injured miners have been transported to a hospital in the capital Ankara for treatment, DHA said.

On October 14, a blast that ripped through a state-owned mine near the small coal town of Amasra, 50 kilometres (just over 30 miles) away from this weekend’s blast, ended up killing 42 people. Twenty-five people, including the director of the mine, have been detained.

The opposition has accused the government of failing to take the necessary measures to prevent the disaster.

Turkey suffered its deadliest coal mining disaster in 2014 when 301 workers died in a blast and ensuing fire that brought down a mining shaft in the western town of Soma.