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A methane explosion in a Turkish coal mine Tuesday killed 17 miners, the governor of Turkey's northwestern Balikesir province said.
Rescuers brought out 12 bodies from the Odakoy mine near the town of Dursunbey while five other miners succumbed to their injuries, Yilmaz Arslan told the NTV network.
"There are no other miners inside and searches have been halted," he said.
Forty-six people were working in the mine when a pocket of methane caught fire at 1530 GMT at a depth of 250 metres (820 feet), a company official told Anatolia news agency.
"Our comrades who were near the exit... could come out safe and sound," said Erhan Ortakoylu. Ten were brought to safety by rescuers.
Anatolia said 17 people were killed in the same mine in a 2006 accident.
Explosions and cave-ins are not uncommon in Turkey, particularly in privately run mines where respect for safety regulations is often minimal.
In December, 19 workers were killed when a coal mine in Bursa province in the northwest caved in after the miners set off some dynamite.
