At least 51 people were killed by a deadly explosion caused by a gas leak at the Tabas coal mine in eastern Iran, one of the deadliest workplace accidents in Iran in years, state media reported Sunday.
Local time was 9 p.m. on Saturday when the explosion is believed to have been caused by a leakage of methane gas in two blocks of the mine. The Tabas mine, located in South Khorasan province and owned by private Iranian company Madanjoo, is recognized as one of the biggest coal reserves in Iran.
Death Toll and Injuries
Casualties 51 deaths: Main article: 2015 Gulf Coast oil spill There were estimated reports of 30 deaths, however; the confirmed death toll has increased to 51 as more bodies are recovered from the site. Another 20 workers are reportedly wounded following the explosion. Rescue attempts are still on-going for any possible survivor trapped inside.
Iran’s Red Crescent has reported that there are miners still trapped around 250 meters below ground level. Some chambers in the mines have filled with highly concentrated methane gases, which complicates the rescue work. The local officials have preferred rescuing the injured while recovering the deceased.
Rescue Operations and Investigation
Footage broadcast on state television showed ambulances and helicopters arriving at the scene to take the injured to hospitals in the region. Some of the bodies of the victims, still in work uniforms, were recovered and carried away on mining carts, online videos showed.
Rescue teams continue to retrieve the remaining bodies, South Khorasan Governor Javad Ghenaat confirmed. Meanwhile, Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni, heading to the scene, said that a kind of “gas condensation” inside the mine had apparently spurred the explosion.
President Masoud Pezeshkian, who is traveling to New York for the UN General Assembly, has expressed his sympathy to the victims’ families and requested a formal probe into this incident. In his statement, Pezeshkian promised to make sure that every laxity that led to this disaster would be brought to justice.
South Khorasan provincial authorities have decided to hold three days of mourning in respect of those killed.Condolence Message from Pakistan
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has also expressed his deep sorrow over the incident. Presently in London, the Prime Minister expressed his grief through a condolence message to Iranian President Pezeshkian and the people of Iran, saying, “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. Pakistan stands with its Iranian brethren during this time.”
A History of Mining Accidents
The accident has brought into the list of mining accidents which Iran experienced in the recent years. This is one of the country’s deadliest mining accidents that have occurred in the past years. It is just last year when a similar explosion was experienced in a coal mine in Damghan that took six lives and was suspected to be due to methane leak.
The Tabas mine spans 30,000 square kilometers and possesses strategic reserves of both coking and thermal coal. “It is actually the richest and largest coal deposit in Iran,” said IRNA, a state-run news agency.
