Seven killed in tragic gas poisoning incident at ‘unregistered’ mine in Iran

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The secretary of Iran's National Coal Association stated on Tuesday that the mine where a gas poisoning incident occurred, killing seven miners - including three foreign nationals - was not registered with the association and was very small in scale.

The gas poisoning incident took place on Monday at the Mehman Duyeh coal mine in Damghan, located in Iran's northern Semnan Province, resulting in the tragic death of seven people.

“This mine was very small in scale and was not among the mines registered with [Iran’s National] Coal Association,” Saeid Samadi, the association’s secretary told the state-run Iranian news agency (IRNA) on Tuesday.

Samadi’s remarks notably contradicted those of Semnan province’s governor, Mohammad Javad Koulivand, who told IRNA on Tuesday that “the mine has a license and has never recorded any accidents.” 

Noting that information from the mine’s technical inspector or safety officer is yet to be obtained, Samadi suggested that the gas poisoning was caused by “the contamination of the mine with carbon monoxide gas,” which led to the suffocation of the miners. 

However, he ruled out the incident being caused by “methane gas emissions, because if it were, it would have led to an explosion in the mine.”

Three emergency teams and the head of Semnan Province's pre-hospital emergency services responded to the scene.

Following an order from Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Tehran’s minister of industry, mines and trade tasked a team of experts to investigate the incident.

A judicial case has been opened into the Damghan mine accident, according to the head of Semnan Province’s judiciary, reported IRNA.

“Given that a legal case has been filed for this incident, a supplementary report on the cause and circumstances of this incident will be presented after receiving reports from the Department of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare inspectors, who are present at the scene along with other judicial, executive, and relief officials,” the communication center of Judiciary told IRNA late on Monday. 

Mine explosions and gas poisoning incidents in Iran are often attributed to poor safety standards and non-compliance with security regulations.

On September 22, an explosion at a coal mine in Iran’s South Khorasan Province killed at least 34 workers.