A gas leak has killed 51 people in a coal mine in Iran

A gas leak that caused an explosion in an Iranian coal mine has killed 51, Iranian state media reported, saying rescue operations for survivors in the mine were difficult.

The explosion occurred in two blocks of the Madanjoo mine in Tabas, South Khorasan, eastern Iran. The mine is operated by a local private company, the Madanjoo Company.

“It is too early to draw conclusions about the incident, but my experience of 30 years suggests that a sudden gas explosion is probably the cause of this large-scale incident,” Saeed Samadi, secretary of the Iran Coal Industry Association, told Iranian media. as quoted by the Financial Times.

“The Tabas mine accident appears to have occurred above workers in one of the workshops and the explosion was so large that it resulted in a large number of deaths, including the death of the mine’s safety manager,” he added.

A total of 69 workers were in the portion of the mine where the explosion occurred, which led to the suffocation of at least 34 people, IRNA reported. Rescue operations were underway, “but the reality is that it is a difficult task to rescue the injured from a depth of 700 meters diagonally and 250 meters vertically underground,” the head of the local emergency department told the news agency state.

The workers are trapped behind mine chambers that are still filled with dangerously high levels of methane, according to the IRNA report.

“76 percent of the country’s coal is supplied from this region and about 8 to 10 large companies work in the region, including the Madanjoo company,” the governor of South Khorasan province was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, ordered an investigation into the crash. He also ordered the dispatch of additional rescue service personnel to the blast site.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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