SOMA, Turkey — 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. The fate of an estimated 120 miners remained unclear in one of Turkey’s worst mining disasters.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan postponed a foreign trip and visited the mine in Soma, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Istanbul. The deaths were caused by carbon monoxide poisoning, officials said.

Erdogan said the tragedy would be investigated to its “smallest detail” and “no negligence will be ignored.”