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Sept. 22 (UPI) — At least 51 workers died and 20 others were injured in a coal mine explosion in eastern Iran, state media said on Sunday.
The methane gas explosion occurred at 21 p.m. local time in two blocks of the mine in Tabas, which is 335 miles southeast of the capital Tehran, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
South Khorasan’s governor Javad Ghenaatzadeh said there were 69 workers in the mine at the time of the explosion.
“The reality is that it is a difficult task to rescue the injured from a depth of 700 meters (2,297 feet) diagonally and 250 meters (820 feet) vertically underground,” he said.
The Tabas mine covers an early 11,600 square miles and holds mass reserves of coking and thermal coal, according to IRNA.
President Masoud Pezeshkian has ordered an investigation into the incident, according to the head of his administration’s Information Council.
An explosion at a coal mine in the northern city of Damghan killed six people last year, also likely from a methane leak, according to local media.
In May 2021, two miners died in a collapse at the same site, local media reported at the time.
UPI