VP urges setting up committee to look into mine blast incident

He made the call in a meeting with ministers of interior, cooperative, labor and social welfare and a number of other officials late on Thursday.

During the meeting, Jahangiri expressed condolences to families of the victims and wished good health for the injured.

He also urged an urgent technical investigation into the incident by a committee comprising representatives from ministries of industry, mine and trade, cooperative, labor and social welfare and interior to precisely examine various aspects of the incident.

Interior Ministry should mobilize all facilities to save all those missing at the earliest, he said.

At least 22 miners were dead on Wednesday in a huge explosion in the Zemestanyurt coal mine in the northeastern province of Golestan.

The blast occurred at the length of 1,400m of the mine's horizontal tunnel which has a total length of 1,800m and two stations, a provincial official told IRNA.

Reports coming from the scene of the dealy incident, 35 miners have been entrapped in the coal mine.

Bodies of 22 victims have so far been transferred outside of the mine.

Zemestanyurt coal mine in Azadshahr region, situated 90 km east of the provincial capital city of Gorgan.

The provincial officials announced a day of mourning here on the sad event.

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