A blast caused by a gas leak at an Iranian coal mine has killed at least 51 people, state media said Sunday, in one of the country’s deadliest work accidents in years.
Miners and police officers gather around the site of a coal mine where methane leak sparked an explosion on Saturday, in Tabas, some 335 miles (540 kilometers) southeast of the capital Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024.(AP)
“The number of dead workers increased to 51” in the explosion at the Tabas mine in eastern Iran, the official IRNA news agency reported, revising an earlier death toll of 30.
It added that 20 other people were injured.
The explosion occurred at around 9:00 pm (1730 GMT) on Saturday, when around 70 workers were present at the site in South Khorasan province, IRNA said.
According to the report, a leak of methane gas led to the blast in two blocks of the mine, which is owned by private Iranian firm Madanjoo.
State TV broadcast footage of ambulances and helicopters arriving at Tabas to transport the injured to hospital.
Online footage carried by IRNA showed bodies of some of the victims, wearing their work uniform, carried out of the site on mining carts.
South Khorasan governor Javad Ghenaat told state TV that rescue teams were working to recover the remaining bodies.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, in remarks carried state TV before departing for the UN General Assembly in New York, offered his condolences to the families of the victims and ordered a probe into the deadly incident.
