Iran Press/ Iran news: The bodies were found on Monday in a 10-hour operation that started minutes after an explosion tore through the Tazareh mine in Semnan’s Damghan county.
The blast hit the Tazareh coal mine at 7:30 p.m. local time (1600 GMT) on Sunday.
Caused by gas accumulation, the explosion collapsed a tunnel at the mine and trapped workers.
A number of miners also suffered gas poisoning and received outpatient treatment.
Iran’s Minister of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare Sowlat Mortazavi has traveled to Damaghan to launch an investigation into the incident.
Semnan’s Chief Justice Mohammad-Jafar Abdollahi ordered a temporary halt to the operations of the mine to review safety measures there and investigate the causes of the blast.
Iran’s total coal reserves are estimated at 14 billion tons, of which 1.5 billion tons are currently discoveries, according to the Iran Coal Association.
