Iranian authorities on September 23 updated the death toll in a mining explosion to 38, with 14 others still trapped within the mine.
The new death toll was lower that the 51 reported dead on September 22, a day after a coal mine in eastern Iran exploded. Iranian state TV said a methane leak caused the blast late on September 21 at the mine in Tabas, some 540 kilometers southeast of the capital, Tehran.
The efforts to rescue those trapped are proving difficult due to high levels of methane still present throughout the mine, according to Javad Ghenaat, governor of South Khorasan, the province where Tabas is located.
"The concentration of gas in the tunnel of block C is very high, especially at the end of the mine, which has slowed down the rescue and evacuation operations, but continuous work is being done to reach the workshop," Ghenaat said.
Iranian Interior Minister Iskandar Momeni said on September 22 that rescue forces were "400 meters away" from those still trapped within the mine.
An investigation has been opened to determine the cause of the incident, according to Iranian authorities. The prosecutor of South Khorasan, Ali Nesai Zahan, announced that an investigation was under way. He also said no one was yet arrested in connection to the incident, and that authorities are awaiting expert opinion to better understand the cause of the explosion.
The explosion has led to the announcement of three days of public morning in South Khorasan, with senior officials from across the country going to Tabas to offer their condolences.
Lax safety standards and inadequate emergency services in mining areas are often blamed for mining accidents. Last year, an explosion at a coal mine in the northern city of Damghan killed six people, and in May 2021 two more died at the same site due to a collapse.