Death toll from Iran’s coal mine blast rises to 49
Death toll from the September 21 coal mine blast in eastern Iran has risen to 49.
Southern Khorasan Province’s crisis management chief, Mohammad Ali Akhoundi, said on Tuesday that experts believe the remaining workers trapped since the day of the explosion have all died.
Nearly 70 people had been working in the mine in Tabas at the time of the blast, caused by a methane leak.
Akhoundi, who was reporting via Iranian state television from the site of the explosion in the Parvardeh mine, located 540 kilometers southeast of the capital Tehran, said rescue teams had expedited efforts, attempting to reach the blast location from two directions.
He said vast volume of debris and the instability of the rocks had hindered their 700-meter descend to the blast site, which is at a depth of 200 meters below the surface.
Akhoundi said experts expected that rescue teams would be able to dig a safe tunnel all the way to the blast site by Wednesday.
So far, many bodies that had been recovered showed no signs of burns or blast injuries, suggesting that many of the workers had died from gas inhalation and not the explosion itself.
Such gases are common in mining, though modern safety measures call for ventilation and other measures to protect workers.
The Tabas Parvadeh 5 Mine, operated by Mandanjoo Co., was owned by the private sector, and it is not clear what safety measures were in place when the blast occurred. The firm could not be reached for comment.
President Masoud Pezeshkian, who is in New York to attend the 79th UN General Assembly, has ordered all efforts be made to rescue those trapped and aid their families. He has said an investigation into the explosion is underway.
In 2017, an explosion at a coal mine in Iran’s northern province of Golestan killed at least 42 people.
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