An explosion in a coal mine in northern Iran on Wednesday killed at least 35 workers and injured scores, state media reported.
The blast occurred at 12:45 p.m. local time (0815 GMT) in the Zemestanyurt mine when workers tried to jump-start a locomotive.
Ali Rabiei, minister of cooperatives, labor and social welfare was quoted as saying by semi-official Tasnim news agency that 35 miners have died in the incident.
The semi-official Fars news agency reported earlier that more than 50 workers were trapped in a two-kilometre-long tunnel filled with gas that hampered rescue efforts.
The mine has 500 workers and the explosion happened during a change of shift, Fars reported.
President Hassan Rouhani has sent Minister of Labour and Welfare to the mine in order to oversee the rescue operations and treatment of victims, state news agency IRNA reported.
Iran extracted 1.68 million tons of coal in 2016, an increase on previous years, thanks to an easing of international sanctions. It uses most in domestic steel production and exports only a fraction.
REUTERS
Comments
2 responses to “Iran coal mine explosion kills 35: state media”
-
As reported by US sources, the Navy of the Islamic Republic of Iran has attempted to launch a cruise missile from a submarine. The attempt was unsuccessful.
According
to Fox, a small submarine of the Yono class, located in the area of the
Strait of Hormuz, tried to launch from underwater position. It is unclear whether this is the first such attempt.Submarines of this class are produced in North Korea since 1965, and their modification, called “Ghadir”, in Iran – since 2007. Displacement of the submarine – 120-130 tons, length – 22-29 meters
-
President
of the Islamic Republic of Iran Hasan Rouhani, who visited the mine,
where killed 26 miners, was attacked by their colleagues. The car with the head of state could hardly pass through a crowd of miners.Miners expressed outrage at unsatisfactory working conditions, stating that no one cares about their safety. They also complain about systematic salary delays.
“The whole Iranian people mourn together with the families of those
killed in the explosion at the mine.” We are all responsible for this
tragedy, “Rouhani said, calling for toughening control over compliance
with safety regulations.The mine continues search and rescue work, in which Labor Minister Ali Rabiah also took part. For this he descended to a depth of 1.400 meters.
An explosion in the Zemestanurt coal mine, located in the province of
Golestan in north-eastern Iran, occurred on May 3. Under the rubble still remain 9 miners. Authorities claim that the chances of finding them alive are negligible
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.