50 Workers Trapped in Golestan Mine Blast

Close to 50 workers have been trapped following a large explosion at 12:45 pm Wednesday in Zemestanyurt coal mine, located 14 kilometers from Azadshahr, in the northern Golestan Province, said Sadeq Qoli Moqaddam, head of the provincial Crisis Management Office.

He said 28 people near the accident site were injured in the explosion that occurred when workers were changing shifts.

Ten ambulances and 20 medical teams were sent to the scene, said Reza Saberi, advisor to the dean of Golestan University of Medical Sciences, IRNA reported.  

A local official, who did not want to be identified, said “people may have died in the blast.” However, the exact number of fatalities and injured people has not been officially announced yet. Several officials said the explosion happened due to the accumulation of gas in the mine and said it was hampering rescue efforts.

Iran is rich in minerals. While annual consumption of coal is 2.5m tons, mostly by steel mills, only 1 million tons is extracted from its coal mines every year. The rest is imported.