In a telegram signed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, the Pope expressed his condolences for the victims of last Saturday’s catastrophe, in which more than 50 people died.

The Pope sent his prayers for the deceased and for their bereaved families, while expressing his spiritual solidarity with the injured and invoking, for those affected by this tragedy, strength, consolation and peace.

The explosion, according to Iranian sources, occurred while some seventy people were working at the site, and everything indicates that it was caused by a methane leak.

This is one of the worst mining disasters in the recent history of the Persian nation and its president, Masoud Pezeshkian, ordered the opening of an investigation to clarify the causes of this event and to determine who was responsible.

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