As rescuers looked for further missing miners, the provincial disaster office said on Friday that a blast at a coal mine in southern Pakistan had killed at least 34 people. The mine near the capital of the resource-rich province of Balochistan was destroyed by an explosion on Thursday that is thought to have been triggered by methane gas. The rescue effort continued through the night. “34… bodies have been recovered, according to information received from the deployed teams,” the provincial disaster management body for southern Balochistan said in a statement early on Friday.Without indicating the number of miners inside the mine at the time of the explosion, it continued, “The joint rescue operation is still ongoing to locate and recover the remaining trapped miners.”
Witnesses reported that an unknown number of nearby miners hurried to try to contact the workers inside after hearing the explosion. According to Ahmed Zada, a mine worker at the scene, “other miners descended into the mine after the explosion for a rescue operation, but they also died,” AFP reported.Safety concerns: As the rescue efforts were conducted, relatives, rescuers, and miners gathered outside the Sorange mine entrance, which is about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from Quetta, the province capital.
Workers and rescuers assisted in removing remains from the concrete tunnel, some of which were covered in black soot. Some of them wore hard hats, but the majority were dressed normally. They transported them on stretchers to ambulances and cars that were waiting close to the mine’s entrance. Labor rights movements have historically demanded stricter safety regulations and enforcement for the mining industry because mining accidents are frequent in Pakistan, especially in Balochistan.
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