Iran has said 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 number of miners inside the mine at the time have fluctuated since a methane gas leak on Saturday sparked an explosion at the coal mine in Tabas, about 540km (335 miles) southeast of the capital, Tehran.
Around 70 people had been working at the time of the blast.
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 approached the SUV he rode in, kicking and beating the armoured vehicle in rage.
In 2013, 11 workers were killed in two separate mining incidents. In 2009, 20 workers were killed in several incidents.
