Women wailed uncontrollably, men knelt sobbing and others just stared in disbelief outside a coal mine in western Turkey as rescue workers removed a steady stream of bodies Wednesday from an underground explosion and fire that killed at least 238 workers.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan postponed a foreign trip and visited the mine in Soma, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Istanbul.

Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said 787 people were inside the coal mine in Soma at the time of Tuesday's explosion and 363 of them had been rescued.

Erdogan said there were an estimated 120 workers still inside the mine.

The explosion tore through the mine as workers were preparing for a shift change, officials said, which likely raised the casualty toll because there were more miners inside than usual.

Turkey's worst mining disaster was a 1992 gas explosion that killed 263 workers near the Black Sea port of Zonguldak.

Rescue workers emerged at a slow pace from the mine with stretchers carrying bodies, which were covered in blankets.

Yildiz said earlier that some of the workers were 420 meters (460 yards) deep inside the mine.

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