Twelve miners were killed and eight rescued after an explosion in a coal mine in the Zardalo area of Balochistan’s Harnai district, officials said on Wednesday.
Earlier, it was reported that 18 miners were trapped after a big portion of the mine caved in when a powerful explosion took place. The directorate of chief inspector of mines had said that teams launched a rescue operation.
“The rescue operation has been just completed,” said Balochistan chief inspector of mines Abdul Ghani Baloch on Wednesday morning.
He said that 20 miners had been inside the mine when a methane gas explosion took place overnight. He added that rescue teams recovered 12 bodies while the survivors had been taken to hospital.
“Two bodies were recovered during the night, with the remaining 10 retrieved early in the morning,” Abdul Ghani Baloch, chief inspector of mines for Balochistan, told AFP.
Abdullah Shahwani, the province’s director general of mining, also confirmed the death toll.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif issued a statement expressing “profound sorrow and grief over the loss of precious lives”.
According to Radio Pakistan, the premier directed that all possible medical treatment be provided to the injured miners.
Terming such incidents as “very painful and sad”, he said the government would provide all possible relief to the injured and affected families.
Past incidents
Coal deposits are found in the western areas of Pakistan that sit near the Afghan border and mine accidents are common, mainly due to gas build-ups.
Mine workers have complained that a lack of safety gear and poor working conditions are the key causes of frequent accidents, labour union officials have said in the past.
In December, two coal miners were killed and three injured when a fire broke out in a private mine in Balochistan’s Duki coal field.
In September last year, three workers were buried under the rubble of a coal mine in Sindh’s Jamshoro when a mine caved in.
Earlier the same year, a coal miner was killed and three received burn injuries in a methane gas explosion in a mine in the Duki coal field.
A year ago, at least six miners were killed in a gas explosion inside a coal mine in the Harnai district.
