In Pakistan’s Balochistan province, on Wednesday, March 20 (1st), the dead bodies of 10 more people were removed from a collapsed coal mine, and the number of victims reached 12.
The incident occurred on Tuesday evening in the Khost region, 80 km from the capital Quetta, due to a gas explosion.
12 workers were trapped due to the explosion in this private mine 244 meters below the surface of the earth.
Abdul Ghani Baloch, chief inspector of mines of Balochistan, told AFP: “The rescue efforts ended with the discovery of all 12 bodies. Two bodies were found during the night and the remaining 10 were found in the morning.”
Abdullah Shahwani, the general director of the state’s mining affairs, confirmed the death toll and said: “Preliminary reports show that the incident was caused by methane gas.”
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif expressed his condolences to the victims of the incident in a statement.
At first it was believed that there were only 10 workers in the mine. Rescuers from the government’s mines department and disaster management agency tried to reach them through the night.
A group of eight men who tried to rescue their colleagues were also trapped in the mine for several hours, but were later rescued by a government rescue team, some of whom were unconscious.
Fatal accidents are common in Pakistan’s mines, which are notorious for dangerous working conditions and lax safety standards.
Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest but poorest province, and is rich in natural resources, local people have long complained that the wealth from these resources is not distributed fairly among communities in Pakistan. It is not divided.
Lala Sultan, head of the Balochistan Coal Workers’ Federation, told AFP: “This incident is neither the first nor the last in Balochistan. Safety measures are poorly implemented in coal mines. Meanwhile, While other states have some safety protocols, safety in Balochistan has been completely neglected.”
In May 2018, 23 people died and 11 others were injured due to a gas explosion in two adjacent coal mines in the same area.
Officials said the cause of the explosion was the explosion of methane gas, which caused the mine tunnel to collapse.
In 2011, 43 workers died due to a gas explosion in another coal mine of this state.