Daily Times

At least 12 miners were killed and eight rescued after an explosion in a coal mine in Zardalo area of Balochistan’s Harnai district, officials said on Wednesday.

“The rescue operation has been just completed,” said the provincial chief inspector of mines, Abdul Ghani Baloch. He said 20 miners were 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. 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 October 2023, three miners were killed in a coal mine accident in Darra Adam Khel area of Shangla district in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

The incident occurred as a result of exposure to poisonous gases within a coal mine located in the Kale Khel area. This marks the second such incident within a week in which a coal miner from Shangla lost their life.

Just days prior, a miner manager from Shangla was fatally shot in Quetta, Balochistan, when unidentified assailants on motorcycles opened fire on him.

Another coal miner was killed while four others were injured in May, last year, after a blast inside a coal mine in Balcohistan’s Dukki district. Police told the media that the mine was filled with methane gas and there was a huge explosion in the mine.

“One collier was killed and four others sustained serious burn wounds as a result of the explosion,” said a police official, adding that the injured miners were rushed to the District Headquarters Hospital Dukki for treatment. An emergency was declared in the hospital to treat the injured. Hazardous working conditions in coal mines of Balochistan have claimed dozens of precious human lives in the past few months.