All miners trapped in a mine explosion in southern Poland were confirmed dead, the official PAP news agency reported today.

The confirmation came after the last body of the trapped miners was recovered by rescue teams, the report said.

The mine accident, the country's deadliest so far this year, occurred Tuesday night when a methane gas explosion 1,030 meters underground shook the Halemba coal mine in the southern Polish city of Ruda Slaska, some 300 km southwest of Warsaw.

The explosion brought the number of miners killed in 2006 in Poland to 43, according to reports.

There were 31 miners working in the area when the explosion occurred, and eight of them managed to escape from the scene.

Rescue work was temporarily suspended on Wednesday out of fear that the high concentration of methane gas in the mine could trigger a second explosion.

All bodies were recovered after the rescue work resumed. Some of them were charred beyond recognition.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski said on Wednesday that an inquiry into the cause of the accident will be carried out.

The Halemba coal mine, one of the oldest coalmines in Poland, went into operation in 1957. Nineteen miners were killed in an explosion in 1990, and another five were left dead in a 1991 collapse.