Turkey officials have outlined that 24 suspects are in custody for their involvement in a recent explosion at a coal mine in the northern province of Bartin which claimed the lives of 41 people.

The suspects include The mine manager, Cihat Ozdemir, as well as top administrators and engineers.

The explosion which occurred on Friday October 14, left over a dozen people injured, some of whom are still hospitalized in critical condition.

Turkish officials including the Energy Minister, Fatih Dönmez, also stated that initial assessments indicated the blast inside the state-owned mine was caused by a firedamp explosion, a reference to the combustion of pockets of highly flammable gases trapped in the coal bed.

This explosion however is not the first of it’s kind, in 2014 a prolonged fire inside a mine in the town of Soma in western Turkey in caused the worst mining disaster in the country’s history, where 301 miners died from carbon monoxide poisoning and at least 162 others were injured.

That incident drew widespread public outrage, amid questions from families and observers about what they said was insufficient government oversight and lack of safety precautions at the facility.

Meanwhile, the Public Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation to ascertain if there was negligence involved .