At least 28 killed after methane leak causes coal mine explosion in Iran

The Telegraph: A methane leak sparked an explosion at a coal mine in eastern Iran, killing at least 28 people and injuring others, Iranian state television reported on Sunday.

“Seventeen injured people were transported to the hospital and 24 people are still missing,” state TV also said, citing the head of Iran’s Red Crescent.

The report said the deaths happened at a coal mine in Tabas, 335 miles southeast of the capital, Tehran.

Authorities were sending emergency personnel to the area after the blast late on Saturday, it said.

The accident was caused by a methane gas explosion in blocks B and C of the mine run by the Madanjoo company, state TV said.

The total number of workers in the blocks at the time of the explosion was 69, it said.

Oil-producing Iran is also rich in a variety of minerals. Iran annually consumes about 3.5 million tons of coal but only extracts about 1.8 million tons from its mines per year. The rest is imported, often consumed in the country’s steel mills.

This is not the first disaster to strike Iran’s mining industry. In 2013, 11 workers were killed in two separate mining incidents. In 2009, 20 workers were killed in several incidents. In 2017, a coal mine explosion killed at least 42 people, the Associated Press reported.

Lax safety standards and inadequate emergency services in mining areas are often blamed for the fatalities.