The tragedy of the Tabas Madanjoo coal mine that exploded on September 21st and led to the catastrophic death of more than 50 miners has attracted the attention of the entire society and the solidarity with the miners and the expression of sympathy with their families takes on more social and popular dimensions. Workers and women and retirees organisations have expressed their sorrow and sympathy to the miners’ families and expressed their anger and protest against government because of the inhumane way of treating the miners’ families.
On September 25, the Islamic government announced the end of the rescue operation. This is while after the news of the death of more than 50 miners, the government officials said that some are still trapped underground.
The explosion in the mine tunnel has angered all mine workers in this region and other regions. According to reports, the workers of three other mines in Tabas city are on strike. On September 24, the Tazareh mine workers too went on strike and now the discourse of protest and strike are widespread between all the miners. At the same time, the families of the deceased miners are angry because of government inhumane treatment of the tragedy and toward miners’ families. .
One of the families says “the workers of the Madanjoo (exploded mine) have informed the mangers in the morning of the accident that there is a smell of gas in the tunnel, and in response, the management says, “you can work if you like and if not leave!”
– The family of another miner who died in Tabas mine angrily says to “Sharq”, a state newspaper: “Write down what they did to us, we even have to pay for the funeral of our beloved. We paid 15 to 20 million Tomans to be allowed to take our loved ones’ bodies home. And without cold storage, they just gave us some ice cubes to put on the corpses.”
Another member of the family of the dead workers says: “They said us to buy a bag and bring it here to deliver you the bodies.”
The wife of Alireza Kodei, one of the injured mine workers who is currently hospitalized in the intensive care unit, says: “My partner is in the intensive care unit. It was his first month of work, we do not know if he will be paid or not. the hospital said that he is not covered by health insurance. On the other hand, the doctors say that he may need to be monitored for a long time. I don’t know what to do about all these hospital expenses.”
The mother of one of the deceased says: “Our youth worked without safety”. And his father says: “No one from the mine officials contacted us”.
The workers of the South Pars oil refineries expressed their sympathy with Tabas miners and the families of the deceased workers during their protest rally.
Nurses protest coordination council writes: We share pain. We die to find bread. Shout #Iran_Etsab! “
In a statement entitled “Slaughterhouse of Workers, Treasure of Capitalists”, the Council of Iranian Retirees writes: “Iran’s mines smell of death!”
– The Coordinating Council of Trade Union Organizations of Farhangians has written: “For those who are left with only their shoes. We offer our sincere condolences to the families of these dear ones, all the workers and the people of Iran in the tragic and heart-breaking incident of the death of 51 Tabas mine workers.”
– 4 organizations and labor groups in the name of Haft Tapeh Sugarcane Workers Union, Retired Union Group, Coordinating Committee to help create independent labor organizations and retired workers of Khuzestan, through a joint statement entitled “Profit and Capital – Death and Accident” voiced their protest raised to this obvious crime.
– The Council for Organizing Protests of Oil Contract Workers has written “The perpetrators of the crime in Tabas Mine are the same people who repeatedly victimized our colleagues due to the lack of safety in the working environment in other mines and other labor centers and in oil industry.”
– The plaintiff’s organization wrote “We are all plaintiffs! We sympathize with the families of the victims of #Tabas mine!”
– Tehran Vahed Bus Company Syndicate while expressing condolences to the families of the victims of this humanitarian disaster, in addition to the employer, has condemned all the relevant authorities, including the Ministry of Labor and the Provincial Labor Department, for not carefully inspecting the work environment in terms of safety.
The Union of Retirees writes: “This incident is not natural, it is a disregard for the lives of workers.”
Iran’s Women’s Neda organisation declared solidarity with the Tabas miners and wrote: “We all cry and sympathize with the families of the victims of the Tabas mine disaster”.
Sharife Mohammadi, a labor activist sentenced to death who is in Lakan prison in Rasht, has also expressed her sympathy to the families of the workers killed in the Tabas mine accident.
A group of teachers also gathered in Langrod and expressed solidarity with Tabas miners with their speeches.
Also, three women political prisoners from Evin prison, named Nahid Khodajo, Reyhane Ansarinejad and Nasreen Khezr Javadi expressed their solidarity with the families of those who died in this shocking tragedy in a statement about the “Miner’s of Madanjoo”.
A large number of people in Rasht city gathered On September 25, in the city’s centre and lit candles and held a banner that read “Tabas, dad lost his life!” and expressed their anger and hatred towards those authorities responsible for this crime and expressed their sympathy and solidarity to the families of the deceased workers.
Right now, the hashtag #Iranam_etesab,(my Iran strike!) which was called by Ismail Bakhshi, a well-known workers activist is hot. Nationwide strikes are a suitable response to the government’s crimes against the miners.
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Explosions and accidents in mines in Iran have killed a large number of miners in recent years, and the government and officials are not taking any action to deal with these disasters, and this has caused widespread anger among workers and people.