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People try to help an injured man who was hit by the jet of a police water cannon on Friday, May 16, during a protest against the government after a mine explosion in Soma, Turkey. Hundreds have taken to the streets across the country since nearly 300 miners died in a mine fire near Soma on May 13, protesting the government and a lack of safety regulations. Unions called for strikes May 15.
Police use water cannons and tear gas to disperse people gathered to commemorate victims and protest the government's labor policy in Izmir, Turkey on May 16.
Yusuf Yerkel, an aide to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, kicks a person who is being wrestled to the ground by two police officers during protests in Soma, Turkey, on Wednesday, May 14.
Riot police try to stop protesters attacking the offices of Erdogan's Justice and Development Party in Soma on May 14.
Protesters riot outside the Justice and Development Party office in Soma.
People march to the Soma offices of the Justice and Development Party.
A protester is detained in front of the General Directorate of Mineral Research and Exploration headquarters in Istanbul on May 14.
Riot police use a water cannon to disperse protesters in Istanbul.
Protesters clash with riot police in Ankara on May 14.
Police arrest a protester in Ankara on May 14.
- NEW: Search efforts are now over with a confirmed death toll of 301, government officials say
- "If you boo the country's prime minister, you get slapped," Turkey's PM says in video
- Mine owner says the Soma site met the standards required by Turkish law
- Ruling party spokesman says PM's aide kicked a protester after he was attacked by him
Soma, Turkey (CNN) -- The search for victims of this week's coal mine fire in Soma is now over, with a final death toll of 301, Turkish government officials said Saturday.
Authorities believe they have now recovered the bodies of all the workers who were in the Soma mine when the fire erupted Tuesday.
The investigation into what caused the fire continues, the Natural Disaster and Emergency Coordination Directorate said.
The final bodies were pulled out Saturday afternoon, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said.
Turkish PM's aide kicks a protester
Mine disaster leaves families devastated
Mass funeral held for Turkish miners
Turkey shaken by mine disaster
However, as the recovery effort comes to an end, controversy over Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's response to the tragedy refuses to blow over.
On Friday, police in the western city used tear gas, plastic pellets and a water cannon on protesters angry over the government's actions.
Public fury has grown since the mine fire broke out, fueled in part by Erdogan's own missteps while visiting the scene a day later.
First, Erdogan's comments to relatives of dead and injured miners, in which he described the disaster as par for the course in a dangerous business, were seen as highly insensitive and drew scathing criticism.
Then video taken on the same day in Soma showed Erdogan telling a man "don't be nasty," according to the footage aired Friday by Turkish broadcaster DHA. The remarks initially reported and translated by DHA were confirmed by a CNN native Turkish speaker.
"What happened, happened. It is from God... If you boo the country's prime minister, you get slapped," Erdogan is heard saying.
That was after another video clip emerged showing a crowd outside a grocery store angrily booing Erdogan. As the Prime Minister entered the crowded store, he appeared to put his arm around the neck of a man who was later identified as a miner.
After the confrontation, the video captured what appeared to be Erdogan's security guards beating the same man to the floor. The miner said later that Erdogan slapped him, possibly by mistake. He wants an apology for the way he was treated by the Prime Minister's staff.
In addition, a photograph surfaced Wednesday of an aide to Erdogan kicking a protester, an image that quickly became a symbol of the anger felt by many against the government, and amid mounting questions over safety practices at the mine.
Huseyin Celik, a spokesman for the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, dismissed the grocery store incident and said the image of the aide, Yusuf Yerkel, kicking the protester was misleading.
Yerkel was quoted by Turkey's semiofficial Anadolu news agency Thursday as saying that he had been deeply saddened by the previous day's events. "I am sad that I could not keep my calm in the face of all the provocation, insults and attacks that I was subjected to that day," he reportedly said.
Popular anger continues to run high.
On Friday, a throng of protesters chanting "Don't sleep, Soma, remember your dead!" coursed through city streets a few miles from the disaster site, trying to reach a statue honoring miners, before the police responded with tear gas.
Questions over safety chambers
The mine complex exploded in flames for unknown reasons Tuesday -- trapping many miners deep underground.
Among other issues, mine officials indicated Friday that workers may not have had access to an emergency refuge where they could have sheltered from the flames and choking fumes.
Site manager Akin Celik told reporters that the mine had closed one emergency refuge when excavation work moved to a lower area. Miners were building, but had not finished, a new safety chamber at the lower level, he said.
The owner of the company, Alp Gurman, said the mine met the highest standards laid out by the law in Turkey. The company, he said, had no legal obligation to build safety chambers.
Asked about that issue, Minister of Labor and Social Security Faruk Celik defended Turkey's workplace safety act and said it was set up within the framework of EU regulations, according to CNN Turk.
"This is a dynamic area," he said, adding that it is the duty of each company to ensure workers' safety needs are met. "Could people be sent to death because a certain sentence is not in the regulations?" he said.
Istanbul Technical University said it had dropped Gurman and a fellow Soma Holding manager, Ismet Kasapoglu, from an advisory panel in its mining faculty, following protests and an occupation by students at the university, CNN Turk reported.
*Map of the mine location
Map of the mine location
Family members mourn at the grave of a victim of the mine disaster in Soma, Turkey, on Friday, May 16. A fire caused by a transformer explosion left nearly 300 people dead and trapped dozens of others in the mine, officials said.
A woman attends the burial of victims in Soma on Thursday, May 15.
A woman waits on the ground at the disaster scene Wednesday, May 14.
A man weeps over the body of a miner being pulled from the mine in Soma on May 14.
People gather near rows of open graves for victims in Soma on May 14.
A rescue worker prepares stretchers for the search for miners on May 14.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, center, surrounded by security, visits the coal mine on May 14. Hundreds have taken to the streets of Istanbul and Ankara since the disaster in protest of the government and poor safety regulations. Unions have called for strikes across the country on May 15.
The crowd reacts as rescue workers carry the body of a miner in Soma on May 14.
Miners and relatives wait for news outside the mine on May 14.
A family member cries as rescue workers carry a survivor from the mine on May 14.
Miners rest after hours of working with the rescue operation on May 14.
A miner covers his face after being affected by toxic gas during rescue operations on May 14.
Rescue workers carry a miner to an ambulance on May 14.
Rescue workers carry a survivor from the mine on May 14.
People await news about relatives in front of a Soma hospital on May 14.
Rescue workers continue their efforts on May 14.
Miners wait outside the mine in the early hours of May 14.
Rescuers help carry away a miner on May 14.
Relatives try to get information outside a Soma hospital on Tuesday, May 13.
An injured miner gets pulled from the mine on May 13.
Rescue workers and relatives gather at the mine on May 13.
An injured miner is carried out by rescue workers. The mine shaft is about two-thirds of a mile -- or 1 kilometer -- underground, a disaster agency said.
Miners stand by after the explosion. About 100 rescuers, dozens of ambulances and helicopters were dispatched to the scene.
Miners and relatives wait outside the mine on May 13. Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said officials turned an exit pipe "into a clean air pipe," so "there is fresh air being given in places where there is no fire."
Turkish women await news of their relatives who are trapped underground.
Rescue operations continue at the site of the accident on May 13.
A massive crowd watches as rescuers work into the night.
Coal mine disaster in Turkey
Coal mine disaster in Turkey
Coal mine disaster in Turkey
Coal mine disaster in Turkey
Coal mine disaster in Turkey
Coal mine disaster in Turkey
Coal mine disaster in Turkey
Coal mine disaster in Turkey
Coal mine disaster in Turkey
Coal mine disaster in Turkey
Coal mine disaster in Turkey
Coal mine disaster in Turkey
Coal mine disaster in Turkey
Coal mine disaster in Turkey
Coal mine disaster in Turkey
Coal mine disaster in Turkey
Coal mine disaster in Turkey
Coal mine disaster in Turkey
Coal mine disaster in Turkey
Coal mine disaster in Turkey
Coal mine disaster in Turkey
Coal mine disaster in Turkey
Coal mine disaster in Turkey
Coal mine disaster in Turkey
Coal mine disaster in Turkey
Coal mine disaster in Turkey
Coal mine disaster in Turkey
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Photos: Coal mine disaster in Turkey
Family: 'Let this mine take my life too!'
5 worst coal mining disasters 1942 Honkeiko Colliery, China: 1549 dead
1906 Courrières, France: 1,099 dead
1914 Hojo Colliery, Japan: 687 dead
1960 Laobaidong Colliery, China: 682 dead
1963 Mitsui Miike, Japan: 458 dead
Yildiz, speaking to journalists earlier Saturday, when the death toll stood at 299, said 15 bodies had been recovered overnight. Most have been returned to their families but DNA testing is being carried out on the remains of 13 people, the Energy Minister said.
Fumes from a new fire, a few hundred yards from the one that broke out Tuesday, hindered search and recovery efforts Saturday, Yildiz said.
Initial reports said the main fire was sparked by a transformer explosion, but Celik told reporters Friday that the cause of the fire was still unknown.
Asked what had happened, he said, "We don't know either. Never seen anything like this before. We are trying to find out."
Political bonfire
Hundreds have also taken to the streets this week in anti-government protests in Istanbul and Ankara, with police answering, in some cases, with water cannons and tear gas.
As Erdogan took a stroll through the city, onlookers showered him with deafening jeers as well as chants of "Resign, Prime Minister!"
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu defended Erdogan in an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Thursday.
"He was feeling all these pains in his heart," he said. "Everybody knows that our Prime Minister is always with the people, and always feels the pain of the people. Otherwise, he wouldn't get such a high support in eight elections in (the) last 10 years."
But the disaster opened up an old political wound.
Opposition politician Ozgur Ozel from the Manisa region, which includes Soma, filed a proposal in late April to investigate Turkish mines after repeated deadly accidents.
Erdogan's government rejected the proposal. It claimed that the mine, owned by SOMA Komur Isletmeleri A.S., had passed recent inspections.
A Turkish engineers' association criticized mine ventilation and safety equipment this week as being "insufficient and old."
A lack of safety inspections has caused 100 coal mines to be closed in the last three years, according to Turkey's Energy Ministry.
President Abdullah Gul, speaking as he visited Soma on Thursday, said he was sure the investigation already begun would "shed light" on what regulations are needed. "Whatever is necessary will be done," he said.
Despair, anger, dwindling hope after Turkey coal mine fire
Gul Tuysuz and Ivan Watson reported from western Turkey, and Laura Smith-Spark wrote and reported from London. CNN's Diana Magnay, Talia Kayali and Ben Brumfield contributed to this report.