TEHRAN (May 04, 2017): A gas explosion left 35 coal miners dead on Wednesday in northeastern Iran, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.
Officials said that 21 bodies have been recovered so far. Earlier Wednesday, officials blamed accumulated methane gas for the blast in the province of Golestan.
Dozens of miners were trapped in one section of the mine, while dozens more were trapped in another section, said Pir-Hossein Kolivand, head of Iran’s Emergency Center.
Ambulances and rescue teams were dispatched to the scene near the city of Azadshahr. Twenty-five people who entered the mine to help the trapped miners were taken to the hospital due to gas inhalation, said Hamidreza Montazeri, deputy head of the emergency department in Golestan province.
