At least 51 dead after gas leak at coal mine sparks blast as rescuers race against time to save trapped workers in Iran
AT least 51 people have been killed after methane leak sparked an explosion at a coal mine in eastern Iran.
Some 20 people have been injured in the blast as rescuers race against time to save another 24 miners trapped inside, Iranian state media reported Sunday.
“The number of dead workers increased to 51 and the number of injured increased to 20,” the official IRNA news agency reported.
The blast took place at a coal mine in Tabas, some 335 miles southeast of the capital, Tehran at around 9pm local time on Saturday.
Authorities were sending emergency personnel to the area after the blast late Saturday, it said.
Around 70 people had been working there at the time of the blast.
State TV later said 24 were believed to be trapped inside.
Provincial Governor Mohammad Javad Qenaat earlier told state TV that 30 miners had been killed and 17 injured.
He said: “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.”
Iran’s new reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, preparing to travel to New York for the United Nations General Assembly, said he ordered all efforts be made to rescue those trapped and aid their families.
He also said an investigation into the incident had begun.
Oil-producing Iran is also rich in a variety of minerals as the country annually consumes some 3.5 million tons of coal but only extracts about 1.8 million tons from its mines per year.
The rest is imported, often consumed in the country’s steel mills.
This is not the first disaster to strike Iran’s mining industry.
In 2009, 20 workers were killed in several incidents.
In 2013, 11 workers were killed in two separate mining incidents and five years later, a coal mine explosion killed at least 42 people.
Lax safety standards and inadequate emergency services in mining areas are often blamed for the fatalities.
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