A big explosion happened at a coal mine in Tabas, which is in eastern Iran. This sad event killed at least 51 people. It is one of the worst job accidents in Iran in many years, according to the news.
The explosion took place on Saturday night at around 9:00 pm local time. The mine is located in the South Khorasan province.
At the time of the explosion, about 70 workers were at the mine. Out of them, 20 got hurt.
At first, it was thought that 30 people had died. But later, more bodies were found, and the number of people who died went up to 51.
The explosion happened because of a leak of methane gas in two parts of the mine. The mine is owned by a private Iranian company called Madanjoo.
The explosion trapped workers about 250 meters (820 feet) underground. Rescuing people was hard because of the methane gas.
TV news showed emergency workers, like ambulances and helicopters, hurrying to help and take the injured to hospitals. The official news agency of Iran, IRNA, showed sad scenes of workers’ bodies being brought out of the mine.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian shared his sadness and comforted the families of the victims before he left for a UN meeting in New York. He also asked for a full investigation to find out why the explosion happened.
Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni, who was traveling to the site of the disaster, said that a “gas buildup” could be why the explosion happened.
South Khorasan province has announced three days of public mourning as the rescue teams keep searching for more bodies.
The Iranian Red Crescent said that they are still trying to find and rescue more workers, though the gas buildup is making it tough.
Iran’s coal mines have had many accidents in the past few years. Last year, another explosion killed six miners in the northern city of Damghan. In 2017, an explosion in Azad Shahr took the lives of 43 miners.
The Tabas mine is very rich in coal. It covers a large area of more than 30,000 square kilometers and has large reserves of both cooking and thermal coal.