A catastrophic explosion at the Ma’danjui coal mine in Tabas in Iran’s South Khorasan province has resulted in the deaths of at least 52 miners, leading local authorities to declare three days of public mourning across the province. Iranian officials have vowed to hold those responsible for the incident accountable.
The explosion on the evening of 21 September was reportedly triggered by a sudden release of methane gas, and the resultant collapse sealed off all exits from the mine.
Initial reports from South Khorasan’s Director General of Crisis Management Mohammad Ali Akhondi indicated 34 fatalities, but the death toll has now risen to 52, with 17 miners injured and several still unaccounted for.
The semi-official Tasnim News Agency confirmed the deaths of 51 miners and said that the bodies of 18 victims remain trapped underground.
Meanwhile, the Iranian Red Crescent estimates that 17 workers are still missing, while Interior Minister Iskandar Momeni has said that rescue teams are positioned 50 metres from the last known location of the trapped miners.
Rescue efforts have been severely hampered by the high volume of methane gas within the mine. The head of the Iranian Red Crescent’s head, Pir Hossain Kolivand, overseeing the operation, stated that the rising concentration of gas within the tunnels has drastically slowed the progress of rescue teams.
The General Director of Forensic Medicine in South Khorasan Mohammad Tawakoli confirmed that the bodies of 28 victims have been returned to their families. However, the exact cause of the disaster remains unclear, and the Chief Justice of South Khorasan Mohammad Jafar Abdollahi has been instructed by government officials to expedite the investigation into the circumstances of the explosion.
The tragedy is now regarded as the deadliest mining accident in Iran’s history, and the disaster raises serious concerns about the wider impact on the nation’s energy sector, because the Tabas Ma’danjui mine supplied 76% of Iran’s coal.
