Bodies of Missing Turkish Miners Retrieved

Ankara: Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency says search teams have recovered the bodies of the last five miners who were among 18 who died when they were trapped deep inside a flooded coal mine.

The five bodies were retrieved today, 37 days after they were trapped inside the Has Sekerler Mine near the town of Ermenek in southern Karaman province. Rescue teams pumped tons of water out of the mine but efforts to reach the miners were hampered by mud and damage inside the mine.

The tragedy occurred just seven months after 301 miners were killed in a fire inside a coal mine in Soma, western Turkey- the nation's worst mining disaster. It exposed poor safety standards and superficial government inspections in Turkey's mines.