Coal Mine Blast in Iran Kills at Least 23 and Traps Dozens<br />By THOMAS ERDBRINKMAY 3, 2017<br />TEHRAN — An apparent explosion of methane gas collapsed a coal mine in northern Iran on Wednesday,<br />and the Iranian news media said at least 23 miners were killed and dozens were wounded and trapped.<br />News accounts initially said two miners were killed<br />and about 90 miners were believed to be trapped in the collapse at the Zemestan-Yurt mine near the town of Azadshahr in Golestan Province.<br />The news site Khabar Online posted images that showed rescue workers trying to help the wounded, and a local judicial official said<br />that sniffer dogs and rescue teams were being sent to the area.<br />Khabar reported that one group of miners had been trapped more than a mile underground and<br />that the accumulation of gas in the affected area was complicating the effort to reach them.<br />"We are trying to save all trapped miners," the official, Pir Hossein Koulivand, told the Fars news agency.<br />A group of 32 men was still believed trapped much deeper inside the mine, state television reported.
