The Tudeh Party of Iran:

51 coalminers die agonisingly in atreacherous mine, amid unsafe working conditions with ZERO safety measures in place!

23 September 2024

The Tudeh Party of Iran deems the deregulation, privatisation, and the complete failure to meet safety standards in the country's mines, as well as the general corruption and ineptitude of the theocratic dictatorship in Iran, to be the main causes of yet another catastrophic mass fatality of Iranian workers.

According to the latest reports, [on Sunday 22 September 2024]51 mineworkers were killed due to the leak, build up, and subsequent explosion [at around 21:00 local time] of methane gas in the privately owned and run Ma'dan Joo mining complex [in Tabas, South Khorasan province, eastern Iran], while the fate of several others who were working at a depth of 250 metres underground remains unknown.

The continuation of the anti-people "Seventh Development Plan", which is predicated on the expansion of a regime of deregulation, woeful lack of health and safety standards, and privatisation, as well as the unencumbered continuation of more than three decades of neoliberal economics [in Iran], are undoubtedly the main causes of the tragic deaths of 51 workers in the private Ma'dan Joo mine in the vicinity ofTabas. In recent months, the news of the deaths of two workers in the South Pabdana and Abnil coal mines in Kerman province,as well as four employees of the Shazand Arak mine [Markazi province, central Iran] due to the absence of minimum safety precautions in June and July 2024 has once more raised the question, within the framework of the Islamic Republic's mediocre labour laws and woeful lack of health and safety at work standards/procedures pertaining to this sector of mother industries…  "Is the life of a mineworker worthless?" 

Since the beginning of 2023, before this recent heartbreaking incident, more than 22 accidents in the country's mines have resulted in the death of at least 30 mineworkers. And, in many cases, the accidents have not been recorded let alone reported on at all.According to a report by the Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA) on 22 September, the maximum permissible level of methane gas in the coal mines is 0.4 ppm, but the recorded concentrationin the aftermath of the incident at the Ma'dan Joo complex was 5 ppm.Meanwhile, the permissible level for carbon monoxide is 35 ppm, but the density of this gas was as high as 1500 ppm [at the Ma'dan Joo site].According to the same report, although the complex was new, "it appears that it did not have a gas removal system" which also compounded the problem for rescuers.

According to the first reports of this tragic incident, rescuers were able to extract around 30 bodies from Block B of the complex, but many more mineworkers are likely to have been trapped in Block C. A report at noon put the death toll at 33, with at least 17 people injured and 19 workers trapped in Block C of the mine. However, at around 22:00 local time, Ebrahim Rahimian, the executive secretary of Khaneh Kargar (Workers' House), announced the number of workers present at the site of the incident at 69, the number of dead at 50, the number of injured at 17, and the number of trapped workers at 22, all of whom are likely to have since died owing to the further buildup in the concentration of methane gas in the block they were trapped in. Coal wagons were used to extract the bodies of the fallen workers whiletheir distraught families could only watch on as the disaster unfolded at the mine complex. Despite a long line of major incidents affecting the country's dilapidated and unfit for purpose mines, which have caused the deaths of a large number of mineworkers, the previous government administration had even gone as far as eliminating the requirement to obtain a certificate of safety qualifications for "contractors in the process of participating in tenders".

The Tudeh Party of Iran condemns the policy of maximum exploitation of the ruling capitalism and the corrupt theocratic regime of Iran and expresses its condolences to the families of the hardworking mineworkers.Mineworkers and workers labouring in other sectors of manufacturing and service demandthe enforcement of labour laws that are effective in preventing workplace accidents and improving working conditions, including health and safety conditions at work. This demand of the working class could be realised throughcoordinated and organised activity by the working class and throughexerting pressure and intensifying the class struggle being waged in Iran.

From "Nameh Mardom", No. 1217, 23 September 2024

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