IRAN: Miners attack president Rouhani at disaster site

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani faced furious protests from coal miners and their families on Sunday when he visited the site of an accident that claimed dozens of lives, two weeks ahead of an election. Local news agencies showed people stamping Rouhani’s car and beating the windows in northern Golestan province as it tried to make […]

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani faced furious protests from coal miners and their families on Sunday when he visited the site of an accident that claimed dozens of lives, two weeks ahead of an election.

Local news agencies showed people stamping Rouhani’s car and beating the windows in northern Golestan province as it tried to make its way through an angry crowd at the mine site, where at least 26 people were killed by an explosion on Wednesday.

At least nine more miners were trapped inside, but officials say there is little chance they survived.

The accident is thought to have been caused by concentrated methane gas that was triggered when workers tried to jumpstart an engine.

“The entire Iranian nation shares the sorrow of families of those killed in the Zemesten Yort mine accident. We are all responsible for this incident,” said Rouhani, calling for tighter regulations in the mining sector.