"The official and real death toll in the Tabas mine incident is 31 people," Koolivand said in a live interview with IRIB on Sunday night, saying that he can't confirm that 51 people were killed in the incident.
Dozens of miners were killed following a gas explosion in a coal mine in Iran's South Khorasan province.
The incident occurred at around 21:00 local time on Saturday in one of the mines of Tabas city.
MP/