Little hope for 14 missing after Iranian coal mine explosion

TEHRAN, Iran — A rescue operation to find 14 missing people continued on Monday after an explosion in an Iranian coal mine killed 38 people.

The chances of finding those still missing are slim, said the governor of Iran’s eastern South Khorasan province, Javad Ghanaat.

He added that the high gas density in the coal mine was complicating the rescue efforts.

“We hope that the bodies of the remaining victims will be recovered from the mine in the coming hours and that the situation in the shaft will be clarified so that we can end the crisis,” said Ghanaat, according to the state news agency IRNA.

The accident occurred on Saturday evening at around 9 pm (1730 GMT) in the city of Tabas, when a sudden release of methane gas led to an explosion that trapped some 70 workers in the mine.

According to the Interior Ministry, almost 20 additional workers were injured in the accident, some of them seriously.