QUETTA — At least 34 people were killed when an explosion buried parts of a mining complex in Pakistan’s Balochistan province on Thursday, officials said.
A rescue operation is still underway to find and recover the remaining two trapped miners, said Muhammad Fahad, director of operations for the Provincial Disaster Management Authority.
Jogezai said 42 laborers were working inside the mine when the explosion occurred.
The incident in Sorange, a remote area near the provincial capital Quetta, was triggered by a methane gas explosion, according to mine owner Qurban Jogezai, Geo News reported.
Shoaib Nosherwani, Balochistan’s minister for mines and mineral development, earlier told Reuters that 36 people were in the collapsed part of the complex at the time of the explosion.
Rescue efforts were under way at a depth of 4,000 feet (1,219 meters), said Muhammad Atif, the chief inspector of mines in the province.
Abdul Ghani Baloch, a senior government mining official in the region, said: “Two mines close to each other were damaged in a powerful methane gas explosion.”
Rescue teams initially recovered the bodies of seven miners before locating 25 more, provincial officials said.
Baloch said rescue efforts would continue until all those trapped were accounted for, but warned that the death toll was likely to rise.
“The chances of finding anyone alive diminish after methane gas explosions because oxygen levels drop to zero, and rescuers are also proceeding cautiously inside the mine,” Baloch said.
Authorities have begun handing over the recovered bodies to their families for burial, while relatives of the missing miners continued to wait anxiously for updates, Baloch added.
Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti said strict action would be taken if any negligence or misconduct was found.
Balochistan’s minister for mines and minerals Shoaib Nosherwani expressed condolences to the victims’ families and announced that the provincial government would provide compensation of 500,000 Pakistani rupees (about $1,800) to the family of each miner killed in the blast.
Coal mine accidents are common in Balochistan and Sindh, often due to inadequate safety measures and poor working conditions, according to the report.
Source: Saudi Gazette