Iran coal mine explosion kills 35 (UPDATE)

06:20 (GMT+4) An explosion in a coal mine in northern Iran on Wednesday killed at least 35 workers and injured scores, Reuters reported.

The blast occurred at 12:45 p.m. local time (0815 GMT) in the Zemestanyurt mine when workers tried to jump-start a locomotive.

Ali Rabiei, minister of cooperatives, labor and social welfare was quoted as saying by semi-official Tasnim news agency that 35 miners have died in the incident.

Iranian media said more than 30 of the injured were transferred to nearby hospitals.

The semi-official Fars news agency reported earlier that more than 50 workers were trapped in a two-kilometre-long tunnel filled with gas that hampered rescue efforts.

The mine has 500 workers and the explosion happened during a change of shift, Fars reported.

22:54 (GMT+4) May 3 an explosion in a coal mine in northern Iran on Wednesday killed at least 21 workers and injured 69 others, Reuters reported.

"Twenty-one bodies of workers who were killed in the explosion have been taken out of the mine ...So far there have been 69 injured," a regional official in Golestan province told the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

The blast occurred at 12:45 p.m. local time (0745 GMT) in the Zemestanyurt coal mine in Golestan.

22:54 (GMT+4)