A coal mine collapse occurred on January 9 in the Sanjdi area, located around 40 kilometers from Quetta in Balochistan province.
Karachi: A methane gas explosion caused a coal mine to collapse in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province, killing at least four miners, authorities said. A search operation is underway to rescue eight other missing workers.
The coal mine collapsed in the Sanjdi area of Balochistan due to a methane gas accumulation and explosion, leaving 12 workers trapped inside the collapsed structure.
“The incident occurred due to a buildup of gas, which caused an explosion and the mine to cave in,” said Shahid Rind, a Balochistan government spokesperson, on Saturday.
He added that full-scale rescue operations had been ongoing for more than 24 hours, but due to the presence of toxic gas and debris, progress was slow.
Rind confirmed that on Friday evening, the rescue workers succeeded in recovering four bodies from the mine.
Abdullah Shawani, the head of the province’s mining department, conceded that the chances of recovering the remaining eight workers were very slim as they were buried nearly 1500 feet under the mine, and their condition would be critical after 48 hours.
He confirmed that the mine was a privately operated one and investigations would be carried out to determine the cause of the explosion and if proper mining regulations were followed.
Mir Shoaib Nosherwani, Balochistan’s Minister for Mines and Finance, stated that rescue teams were making every effort to save the remaining miners.
Pir Muhammad Kakar, a leader of the mines workers association, said the incident was again the result of not enforcing mining regulations by the owner of the coal mine and the responsible officials in the mines department. He demanded strict action against them.
Coal mine collapses and deaths of workers occur frequently in coal-rich western Balochistan, known for hazardous working conditions and poor safety standards.
In March last year, at least 12 miners were killed in a gas explosion at a coal pit in Harnai.
In May 2018, 23 people were killed and 11 wounded after two neighboring coal mines collapsed in Sanjdi, while 43 workers also died in 2011 when gas explosions triggered a collapse in another Balochistan colliery.
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