The blast occurred at 12:45pm local time in the Zemestanyurt mine when workers tried to jump-start a locomotive. Ali Rabiei, minister of cooperatives, labour and social welfare was quoted as saying by semi-official Tasnim news agency that 35 miners have died in the incident. The semi-official Fars news agency reported earlier that more than 50 workers were trapped in a two-kilometre-long tunnel filled with gas that hampered rescue efforts. The mine has 500 workers and the explosion happened during a change of shift, Fars reported. Iran extracted 1.68 million tons of coal in 2016, an increase on previous years, thanks to an easing of international sanctions.

Source: bd News24 May 03, 2017 21:33 UTC