Another Collapse at Coal Mine in Kerman; One Dead and Five Injured

Iranian media reported the collapse of the Abnil coal mine in the village of Bibi Hayat in Kerman County around noon on Thursday, June 10. In this incident, one miner lost their life and five others were injured. The state news agency IRNA quoted the Deputy Mining Operations of the Kerman Coal Company stating that the accident occurred inside the Abnil coal mine, located 56 kilometers northwest of Kerman city, after a section of the coal layer in the extraction workshop suddenly collapsed, surprising workers and miners. On May 17 of this year, a collapse in one of the main coal workshops in the Toghroljard region of Kuhbanan, Kerman Province, had already claimed the life of one worker, and prior to that, on May 8, another coal mine named 'Hoshuni' in this province collapsed, resulting in the death of another miner. Following the second incident, the Kerman judiciary promised that it would deal with any potential culprits of the accidents 'without any leniency' and requested the Ministry of Industry, Mine, and Trade and other relevant authorities to pursue the issue of safety and rescue in mines 'specifically and without any deficiencies.' The Iranian Legal Medicine Organization reported in May that last year, 2,115 people lost their lives due to accidents in workplaces, which represents an 11.3% increase compared to the same period the previous year. Farshad Ismaili, a labor issues expert in Iran, however, rejected the official statistics, stating on his social media account that based on the data he extracted, 'more than 77 accidents threaten workers' lives daily,' and the average of 28,000 recorded accidents per year is far from the reality of society, with actual figures being higher. Experts say that the lack of necessary and up-to-date training, absence of precise and periodic government oversight, along with the prohibition of independent labor unions and syndicates, has exacerbated the occurrence of fatal accidents in Iranian workplaces.