Seven coal miners have been killed and eight others injured in an underground explosion in the northern Caspian Sea province of Mazandaran, the Iranian Red Crescent said Sunday.
The privately-owned mine was situated near the town of Noor.
A local district official, Taghi Derakhshandeh, was quoted on state news agency IRNA as saying the mine officially employed only 12 miners. "Most of the mines here are not equipped with the necessary safety controls," he added.