TEHRAN: Iran said Tuesday it believes the remaining workers trapped by an explosion at a coal mine in the country’s east have died, bringing the death toll in one of its worst industrial disasters to at least 49.
A provincial emergency official, Mohammad Ali Akhoundi, gave the death toll in a report carried by Iranian state television from the mine in Tabas.
Figures for the numbers of miners inside the mine at the time have fluctuated since a methane gas leak Saturday sparked an explosion at the coal mine in Tabas, about 540 kilometers (335 miles) southeast of the capital, Tehran.
Around 70 people had been working at the time of the blast. Bodies recovered so far showed no signs of blast injuries, suggesting many of the workers died from the gas before the blast.
Such gases are common in mining, though modern safety measures call for ventilation and other measures to protect workers.
It wasn’t immediately clear what safety procedures were in place at the privately owned Tabas Parvadeh 5 mine, operated by Mandanjoo Co. The firm could not be reached for comment.
On Tuesday, a lawmaker and member of parliament’s mine committee said the safety system of the mine was not working and “even the central alarm system was broke or did not exist.”
Lawmaker Zahra Saeedi added that workers learned of the safety issue just before the disaster but couldn’t leave in time. Two of the dead were health and safety experts at the mine, she said.
Iran’s new reformist president, Masoud Pezeshkian, in New York for the UN General Assembly, has said he ordered all efforts be made to rescue those trapped and aid their families. He also said an investigation into the explosion was underway.
Iran’s mining industry has been struck by disasters before. In 2017, a coal mine explosion killed at least 42 people. Then-President Hassan Rouhani, campaigning ahead of winning reelection, visited the site in Iran’s northern Golestan province and angry miners besieged the SUV he rode in, kicking and beating the armored vehicle in a rage.
In 2013, 11 workers were killed in two separate mining incidents. In 2009, 20 workers were killed in several incidents. Lax safety standards and inadequate emergency services in mining areas were often blamed for the fatalities.
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Iran believes all remaining workers have died in coal mine explosion, raising death toll to 49
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Iran believes all remaining workers have died in coal mine explosion, raising death toll to 49
- Around 70 people had been working at the time of the blast
- Bodies recovered so far showed no signs of blast injuries, suggesting many of the workers died from the gas before the blast
UN official: 100,000 Lebanese in shelters after ‘unprecedented’ Israeli warnings
- More than a million people were uprooted in Lebanon during a war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2024, 75%-80% of whom were not in shelters
BEIRUT: About 100,000 people have fled to shelters in Lebanon and the number of displaced is expected to rapidly increase following “unprecedented” Israeli warnings ordering people out of large parts of the country, a senior UN official said on Friday.
With war raging between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the Israeli military on Thursday ordered residents out of Beirut’s southern suburbs, including areas controlled by the Iran-backed group, as well as parts of the eastern Bekaa Valley, after ordering people out of a swathe of south Lebanon on Wednesday.
“What we saw in the last couple of days is, I would say … unprecedented in terms of the scale here in Lebanon of the warnings, the displacement orders, and the reaction, the panic also, that this has all created,” Imran Riza, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Lebanon, told Reuters.
“At the moment, there are about 100,000 people that are, as of this morning, in some 477 collective shelters. There are some 57 shelters that still have some space, but basically the capacity is being reached very, very quickly,” Riza said.
Noting the panic and gridlock caused by the Israeli displacement orders, Riza said: “We had people moving all over the place and not knowing where to go to. So yes, I think we’re going to have an increased number quite quickly,” he said.
He noted that more than a million people were uprooted in Lebanon during a war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2024, 75-80 percent of whom were not in shelters. “This time again, the majority will not be in shelters probably,” he said.
With war raging between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the Israeli military on Thursday ordered residents out of Beirut’s southern suburbs, including areas controlled by the Iran-backed group, as well as parts of the eastern Bekaa Valley, after ordering people out of a swathe of south Lebanon on Wednesday.
“What we saw in the last couple of days is, I would say … unprecedented in terms of the scale here in Lebanon of the warnings, the displacement orders, and the reaction, the panic also, that this has all created,” Imran Riza, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Lebanon, told Reuters.
“At the moment, there are about 100,000 people that are, as of this morning, in some 477 collective shelters. There are some 57 shelters that still have some space, but basically the capacity is being reached very, very quickly,” Riza said.
Noting the panic and gridlock caused by the Israeli displacement orders, Riza said: “We had people moving all over the place and not knowing where to go to. So yes, I think we’re going to have an increased number quite quickly,” he said.
He noted that more than a million people were uprooted in Lebanon during a war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2024, 75-80 percent of whom were not in shelters. “This time again, the majority will not be in shelters probably,” he said.
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