Rescuers have recovered the bodies of 26 miners killed when an explosion ripped through a gold mine two weeks ago, while the remains of five others are still buried beneath the rubble, a mining company official said Wednesday.

In all, 32 people died following the Oct. 26 blast inside a tunnel in the mountain village of Mount Diwata in the southern Philippine province of Compostela Valley--31 miners from JB Management and Mining Corp. and one from a nearby tunnel.

Company vice president Reynaldo Espanola said a police bomb squad will begin an investigation into the explosion after the bodies of the final five miners are recovered about 750 meters (yards) inside the tunnel.

Espanola has denied reports, attributed to survivors, that a cache of dynamite ignited.

He said the victims suffocated, quoting rescuers as saying that there was so little oxygen inside the tunnel that they couldn't light a candle.

Rescue and recovery work was earlier hampered by toxic gas of unknown origin, but round-the-clock ventilation has eased the problem, he said.

Espanola said mining operations remain suspended and the company and the Provincial Government are helping about 500 workers and about 4,000 of their dependents with rice rations.

"Life is hard now in the mountains," he said. "We hope and pray that this will be over soon. It's draining the resources of the company."

He said the mine used to produce 20-30 tons of ore a day, with about 8 grams (0.28 ounces) of gold recovered per ton. Accidents are common around Mount Diwata, a gold rush site believed to sit atop a rich deposit, about 930 kilometers (580 miles) southeast of Manila.