At least 35 dead in Iran coal mine explosion

At least 35 bodies of coal miners have been recovered after an explosion in northern Iran on Wednesday, according to media reports. 

Semi-official Fars news agency reported that more than 50 workers were trapped in a two-kilometre-long tunnel filled with gas that hampered rescue efforts.

The mine in Golestan province collapsed when trapped methane gas exploded as workers tried to jump-start a locomotive engine, according to reports.

"Thirty-two miners have been trapped at the end of one of the shafts 1,300 metres deep into the mine," Golestan governor Hassan Sadeghlou told state media.

The rescue operation was going slowly as tunnels were filled with poisonous gases and miners were stuck at the far end of a 1,000-metre shaft in a mine that is around two kilometres (1.2 miles) long.

"Some 600 metres (yards) of the tunnel has been cleared" in the mine, said Reza Bahrami, a mining industry official in Golestan.

Some 30 miners were treated in various hospitals for gas poisoning and injuries, state news agency IRNA reported.

A local official said the tunnels were filled with gas, making rescue work difficult.

"Work to remove the rubble and drilling for a side tunnel has begun to access the trapped workers in the Zemestan Yort mine," the official said.

The mine has 500 workers and the explosion happened during a change of shift, state media said.

Emergency teams and sniffer dogs have been dispatched to the mine and work to remove the rubble has begun.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has sent Minister of Labour and Welfare Ali Rabii to the mine in order to oversee the rescue operations and treatment of victims, IRNA reported.

First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri expressed condolences to the families of the victims and tasked Minister of Mining and Industry Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh with investigating the cause of the accident.