More than fifty people were killed and more than twenty others missing on Sunday, September 22, after a coal mine explosion in eastern Iran, caused by a methane leak. “The number of dead workers rose to 51 and the number of injured to twenty” The accident occurred at the Tabas mine, the official Irna news agency announced, while an earlier report indicated that around thirty people had died.
The accident was caused by a methane leak that occurred on Saturday at 9:00 p.m. local time (7:30 p.m. Paris time), triggering an explosion in two blocks of the mine, where sixty-nine employees were at the time.
Javad Ghenaat, governor of South Khorasan province where the mine is located, told state television that rescue teams were working to save 22 trapped people. State television broadcast images of ambulances and helicopters ferrying the injured to hospitals in the province. Online images shared by Irna showed the bodies of some victims, dressed in work clothes, being evacuated from the site in mining carts.
Before leaving for the United Nations General Assembly in New York, President Massoud Pezeshkian offered his condolences to the families of the victims and ordered an investigation. “Unfortunately, we have learned that an accident had occurred in one of the coal mines in Tabas and that several of our compatriots had lost their lives. I offer my deepest condolences to their families.”he stressed.
Gas accumulation in the mine.
For his part, First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref–Yazdi spoke with cabinet members to ensure a “emergency follow-up” and support for victims and their families, according to Irna.
The Iranian Red Crescent reported ongoing search and rescue operations to rescue the remaining trapped workers. These operations are complicated by “gas accumulation in the mine”explained local prosecutor Ali Nesaei. “Currently our priority is to help the injured and free those trapped under the rubble”he said, quoted by Irna. “The negligence and faults of the agents involved will be addressed” The prosecutor later added.
In 2023, an explosion at a coal mine in Damghan in the north of the country killed six people, likely due to a methane leak, according to local media. In May 2021, two miners lost their lives in a collapse at the same site. In 2017, an explosion killed forty-three miners in Azadshahr, angering Iranian authorities.
