An explosion in a coal mine in eastern Iran killed at least 34 workers and injured 17 others, officials said Sunday, marking one of the worst mining disasters in the country's history as others remained missing hours after the blast. The blast struck a coal mine in Tabas, about 335 miles southeast of the capital, Tehran, on Saturday night. Around 70 people were working at the time, the AP reports. By Sunday, weeping miners stood alongside mine cars that brought up the bodies of their colleagues, covered in coal dust. State television later said that 17 were believed to be trapped at a depth of 650 feet down a 2,300-foot tunnel.
Figures kept changing throughout Sunday, though, with some reports suggesting the death toll was higher. A provincial emergency official told the state-run IRNA news agency Sunday afternoon that the death toll had reached at least 34 as rescue efforts continued. Survivors interviewed by state TV, still smudged in coal dust, described chaotic scenes. "We were in the mine, working. Suddenly there was some smoke rising ... then I noticed I had difficulty breathing," said one miner. "I jumped off from the workshop and I scrambled until I reached somewhere (safe). My friends (remained) in there."
Authorities blamed the blast on a leak of methane gas, per the AP. Such gases are common in mining, though modern safety measures call for ventilation and other steps to protect workers. Iran's mining industry has been struck by disasters before. In 2017, a coal mine explosion killed at least 42 people. Then-President Hassan Rouhani, campaigning ahead of winning reelection, visited the site in the northern Golestan province, and angry miners besieged the SUV he rode in, kicking and beating the armored vehicle in a rage. In 2013, 11 workers were killed in two separate mining incidents. In 2009, 20 workers were killed in several incidents. Lax safety standards and inadequate emergency services were often blamed for the fatalities.
(More
Iran stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
