Accident: Four dead, eight missing in Pakistan coal mine blast
New Delhi: At least four miners died and eight went missing when a methane gas explosion caused a major blast in the Baluchistan province of Pakistan over the weekend, the media reported. Officials have launched a search operation to rescue the missing miners.
The incident was reported last week in the Sanjdi area, located around 40 km from Quetta in Baluchistan province.
The mines collapsed due to the methane gas buildup and explosion, which caused the mine collapse, leaving 12 workers trapped inside, Baluchistan government spokesperson Shahid Rind said on Saturday. Rescue operations were started but slowed down due to the presence of toxic gas and debris.
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 chances of recovering the eight remaining workers were very slim as they were buried nearly 1,500 feet under the mine. Pir Muhammad Kakar, one of the leaders of the miners’ association, demanded strict action against those responsible and questioned the recurrence of such incidents.
In March 2024, at least 12 people were killed in a gas explosion in Harnai. In May 2018, 23 people were killed and 11 wounded after two neighboring coal mines collapsed in Sanjdi, while 43 workers died in 2011 when gas explosions triggered a collapse in another Baluchistan colliery.
