“I offer my condolences to the families of these dear ones and the people of that area for the bitter and sad incident in the coal mine in Tabas, in which a number of workers were killed or injured,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.
“I emphasize to the relief team that went to the accident site on behalf of the government authorities to do their best to rescue them and to take all necessary measures to reduce the scale of this calamity. Immediate attention to the situation of the injured should also be taken care of.”
The gas explosion in a coal mine in Iran's South Khorasan Province killed at least 51 people and injured 20 others.
The incident was caused by a methane gas explosion on Saturday night in two blocks, B and C, of the mine run by Madanjoo company.
Last year, an explosion at a coal mine in the northern city of Damghan killed six people, also likely the result of methane leak. A blast in 2017 also killed 43 miners in Azad Shahr city in northern Iran.
"76% of the country's coal is provided from this region and around 8 to 10 big companies are working in the region including the Madanjoo company," the governor of South Khorasan Province Ali Akbar Rahimi told state TV on Sunday.
The Tabas mine covers an area of more than 30,000 square kilometers and holds mass reserves of coking and thermal coal. It is "considered the richest and largest coal area in Iran," IRNA said.
NOURNEWS