Sharzad News – Secretary of the Tabas workers’ organisation Ghulam Reza Mohammadi has told the Ghanoon website that 99% of Iran’s miners risk losing their lives, but still clock in every day so as to keep their jobs and support their families.

Mohammadi said they work more than fifteen hours a day in deep quarries under the most primitive health and safety conditions. International standards require that miners work no more than six hours a day.

“We know of many miners who are suffering from chronic lung disease as a result of working very long hours in deep mines. They have lost all hope for a healthy life and can’t expect to live another ten years under current conditions.”

Two and a half thousand full-time miners work in the coal mines of Tabas in north eastern Iran. Coal may be removed from the country’s list of fuel sources, and if this happens they will all be laid off.