Turkey coal mine explosion kills 41

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said an explosion at a coal mine in northern Turkey on Friday night killed 41 people and injured several more as search and rescue efforts came to an end.

A fire broke out at a mine in northern Bartin province, Amasra district, on Friday. Initial evidence suggests an explosion of flammable gases known as firedamp, Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Donmez told state Anadolu news agency earlier.

Erdogan canceled his program in Diyarbakir scheduled for Saturday and traveled to Amasra instead. He called for making the country's mines safe. "We don't want to see any more scarcity or unnecessary risk in our mines," he said at the scene of the explosion.

According to Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, about 58 workers were rescued at the mine, where 110 workers were at the time of the explosion.

Some of the wounded were taken to Istanbul, about 400 kilometers (249 miles) to the west. Turkey has assigned three prosecutors to investigate the accident.

Earlier in a series of Twitter posts, Erdogan said the judiciary was investigating all the details of the accident.

The accident has become the deadliest since the Soma coal mine accident in western Turkey in 2014, the worst in the country. In this case, an underground fire killed 301 people, sparking clashes between police and protesters over the government's response.