An explosion at a coal mine in eastern Iran kills at least 34 workers

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An explosion in a coal mine in eastern Iran killed at least 34 workers and injured 17 others, officials said Sunday, marking one of the worst mining disasters in the country's history as others remained missing hours after the blast.

The blast struck a coal mine in Tabas, about 540 kilometers (335 miles) southeast of the capital, Tehran, on Saturday night. By Sunday, weeping miners stood alongside mine cars that brought up the bodies of their colleagues, all covered in coal dust.

Around 70 people had been working at the time of the blast. State television later said that 17 were believed to be trapped at a depth of 200 meters (650 feet) down a 700-meter (2,300-foot) tunnel. However, figures kept changing throughout Sunday regarding the disaster in the rural area with some reports suggesting the death toll was higher.

A provincial emergency official, Mohammad Ali Akhoundi, told the state-run IRNA news agency Sunday afternoon that the death toll had reached at least 34 as rescue efforts continued.

Survivors interviewed by state TV, still smudged in coal dust, described chaotic scenes after the blast.

“We were in the mine, working. Suddenly there was some smoke rising ... then I noticed I had difficulty breathing," said one miner, whom state TV did not identify. "I jumped off from the workshop and I scrambled until I reached somewhere (safe). My friends (remained) in there.”

Authorities blamed the blast on a leak of methane gas. Such gases are common in mining, though modern safety measures call for ventilation and other measures to protect workers.

It wasn't immediately clear what safety procedures were in place at the privately owned Mandanjoo Co., which operated the Tabas Parvadeh 5 mine. The firm could not be reached for comment Sunday.

Iran’s new reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, preparing to travel to New York for the U.N. General Assembly, said that he ordered all efforts be made to rescue those trapped and aid their families. He also said an investigation into the explosion had begun.

“I spoke with the ministers of health, interior and security and ordered that the issues of the families of the victims and the injured be quickly resolved,” Pezeshkian said, according to a statement from his office. “I also requested to take measures to prevent the recurrence of such incidents by improving work standards in the country’s mines.”

But Iran’s mining industry has been struck by disasters before. In 2017, a coal mine explosion killed at least 42 people. Then-President Hassan Rouhani, campaigning ahead of winning reelection, visited the site in Iran’s northern Golestan province and angry miners besieged the SUV he rode in, kicking and beating the armored vehicle in a rage.

In 2013, 11 workers were killed in two separate mining incidents. In 2009, 20 workers were killed in several incidents. Lax safety standards and inadequate emergency services in mining areas were often blamed for the fatalities.

Oil-producing Iran is also rich in a variety of minerals. Iran annually consumes around 3.5 million tons of coal, but only extracts about 1.8 million tons from its mines per year. The rest is imported, often consumed in the country’s steel mills.

In this photo released by Iranian Red Crescent Society, ambulances stand at the site of a coal mine where methane leak sparked an explosion on Saturday, in Tabas, some 335 miles (540 kilometers) southeast of the capital Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (Iranian Red Crescent Society, via AP)

In this photo released by Iranian Red Crescent Society, rescue personnel, police officers and some other people gather around the site of a coal mine where methane leak sparked an explosion on Saturday, in Tabas, some 335 miles (540 kilometers) southeast of the capital Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (Iranian Red Crescent Society, via AP)

In this photo released by Iranian Red Crescent Society, rescue personnel, police officers and some other people gather around the site of a coal mine where methane leak sparked an explosion on Saturday, in Tabas, some 335 miles (540 kilometers) southeast of the capital Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (Iranian Red Crescent Society, via AP)

In this photo released by Iranian Red Crescent Society, miners and police officers gather around the site of a coal mine where methane leak sparked an explosion on Saturday, in Tabas, some 335 miles (540 kilometers) southeast of the capital Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (Iranian Red Crescent Society, via AP)

In this photo released by Iranian Red Crescent Society, miners and police officers are seen at the site of a coal mine where methane leak sparked an explosion on Saturday, in Tabas, some 540 kilometers (335 miles) southeastern of the capital, Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (Iranian Red Crescent Society, via AP)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian launched new strikes in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv that hit high-rise apartment buildings, leaving at least 21 wounded in a second consecutive nighttime attack.

The bombs fell Saturday night on the district of Shevchenkivsky, north of the center of Kharkiv, which is the second-largest Ukrainian city, local Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said. Nine residential buildings sustained varying degrees of damage, including 16- and nine-story buildings, he added.

The wounded included an 8-year-old child, according to Syniehubov and Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov. Terekhov said that 60 residents were evacuated from one of the buildings.

Kharkiv has been a frequent target of Russian attacks since Moscow launched its all-out invasion of neighboring Ukraine in February 2022.

The attack came after another late Friday that wounded 15 people, including children ages 10 and 12, as Russian airstrikes hit three Kharkiv neighborhoods, Terekhov said.

Ukrainian officials said that KAB-type aerial glide bombs — a retrofitted Soviet weapon that has for months laid waste to eastern Ukraine — were used in both attacks.

Russia also launched 80 Shahed drones and two missiles at Ukraine overnight into Sunday, the Ukrainian air force said. Ukrainian air defense shot down 71 drones, and another six were lost on location due to electronic warfare countermeasures, the statement said.

Farther south, a 12-year-old girl and a woman died after a Russian drone struck a passenger car in the city of Nikopol, local Gov. Serhii Lysak reported. Two others, including a 4-year-old child, suffered wounds.

A Russian artillery strike also killed one person in the eastern town of Kurakhove, regional prosecutors said late Saturday, as Russian forces continue their grinding advance westwards through Ukraine's industrial Donetsk province.

A Russian drone strike on Sunday morning wounded two civilians in Ukraine’s southern city of Kherson, regional authorities said. Hours later, local police reported that Russian attacks wounded at least four more people elsewhere in the Kherson province.

Other Russian drone attacks Sunday damaged energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s central Poltava region and the northern city of Shostka, local officials reported.

Shostka lies in the Sumy region, across the border from Russia's Kursk province — the target of a startling Ukrainian military incursion launched last month. Weeks into the incursion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelneskyy said that the aim is to create a buffer zone to prevent further Russian cross-border strikes that have for months wreaked havoc in Sumy.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

A man holds a puppy near damaged cars after a Russian strike on a residential building in Kharkiv, Ukraine early Sunday Sept. 22, 2024. (Ukrainian National Police via AP)

A light is shone on a damaged car after a Russian strike on a residential building in Kharkiv, Ukraine early Sunday Sept. 22, 2024. (Ukrainian National Police via AP)

People mill around damaged cars and debris after a Russian strike on a residential building in Kharkiv, Ukraine early Sunday Sept. 22, 2024. (Ukrainian National Police via AP)