An explosion in a coal mine in eastern Iran has left 51 people dead and over 20 others injured on Sunday.
According to Iran’s state media, the explosion, which occurred at 21:00 local time (17:30 GMT) on Saturday, was caused by a gas leak at the coal mine in the South Khorasan province in two blocks of the mine in Tabas, 540 km (335 miles) southeast of the capital Tehran.
South Khorasan’s governor Javad Ghenaatzadeh said there were 69 workers in the blocks at the time of the explosion.
Ghenaatzadeh told reporters that “There was an explosion and unfortunately 69 people were working in the B and C blocks of Madanjoo mine.In block C there were 22 people and in block B there were 47 people.”
Efforts were still on to evacuate survivors but it remained unclear how many people were still alive and trapped inside the mine.
“The number of dead workers increased to 51 and the number of injured increased to 20,” the official IRNA news agency reported.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has condoled with the victims’ families as 24 people were reportedly missing.
“I spoke with ministers and we will do our best to follow up,” Pezeshkian said in televised comments.
According to IRNA the Tabas mine covers an area of more than 30,000 square kilometres (nearly 11,600 square miles) and holds mass reserves of coking and thermal coal. It is “considered the richest and largest coal area in Iran,” IRNA said.
Local prosecutor Ali Nesaei was quoted by state media as saying “gas accumulation in the mine” has made search operations difficult.
“Currently, the priority is to provide aid to the injured and pull people from under the rubble,” Nesaei said.
He added that “the negligence and fault of the relevant agents will be dealt with” at a later date.
Last year, an explosion at a coal mine in the northern city of Damghan killed six people, also likely the result of methane leak according to local media.
Recall that in May 2021, two miners died in a collapse at the same site, local media reported at the time.
In 2017, over 43 miners were killed in Azad Shahr city in northern Iran, triggering anger towards Iranian authorities.
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