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At least 51 people died and 20 were injured in a coal mine blast triggered by a gas explosion in South Khorasan province in Iran, state media reported on Sunday.
The accident occurred at around 9pm local time on Saturday, the IRNA news agency said.
The explosion was reportedly caused by a methane gas leak in blocks B and C of the mine, which is run by the Madanjoo company. The mine is located in Tabas, around 540km (336 miles) southeast of the capital Tehran.
“About 76 per cent of the country’s coal is provided from this region, and eight to 10 big companies are working in the region, including Madanjoo company,” South Khorasan governor Ali Akbar Rahimi told state TV, according to reporters.
The rescue operation in block B had been completed, Mr Rahimi said earlier, while emergency personnel were still at work in block C. Methane density in the block was high and the operation would take three to four hours, he said.
Several workers were still missing and feared trapped in the mine, state TV reported, quoting the head of Iran’s Red Crescent.
Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian expressed condolences to the families of the victims and said efforts were underway to rescue the trapped workers and aid their families, as he prepared to leave for New York to attend the forthcoming session of the United Nations General Assembly.
“I spoke with ministers and we will do our best to follow up,” he said in televised comments. An investigation into the explosion had begun, the president added.
This is far from the first disaster to strike Iran’s mining industry. At least 42 people were killed in a coal mine blast in 2017, and 11 workers were killed in two separate mining incidents in 2013.
In the past, reports cited lax safety standards and inadequate emergency services in mining regions as the primary factors in these incidents.
Iran is rich in a variety of minerals. It consumes some 3.5 million tonnes of coal annually, but only extracts about 1.8 million tonnes from its mines. The rest is imported and mostly consumed by the country’s steel mills.
