Two miners have been killed and two others injured in a mine collapse in western Türkiye, while rescue teams continued searching for three workers still trapped underground, officials said Thursday.

The collapse occurred at around 1:15 p.m. local time (1015 GMT) at a privately operated mine in the Soma district of Manisa province, trapping seven workers, Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said.

Four miners were initially brought out by search and rescue teams. Two were pronounced dead, while the other two were taken to hospital for treatment.

“The search and rescue efforts to reach our three other workers who remain under the debris are continuing uninterrupted,” Gürlek said in a statement posted on social media.

He added that an investigation had been launched and three public prosecutors had been assigned to examine the incident.

A crisis coordination center was established under the Manisa governor's office to oversee the emergency response.

Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi said teams from the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), the gendarmerie, emergency medical services and firefighters had been deployed to the scene.

Specialist AFAD teams from neighboring İzmir province were also dispatched with underground imaging and laser-based detection equipment to help locate the trapped workers and assess conditions beneath the debris.

According to local media reports, the two rescued miners were receiving treatment in hospital and were not in life-threatening condition. Search and rescue operations continued late into Thursday as authorities worked to reach the remaining workers.

The cause of the collapse had not been officially established, and the investigation was ongoing.

The incident took place in Soma, a major coal-mining district in Manisa province that was the scene of Türkiye's deadliest mining disaster in May 2014, when an underground fire at a coal mine killed 301 workers. (ILKHA)