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Pakistan: 12 dead, 8 rescued in coal mine explosion
The bodies were all recovered after the overnight collapse in Harnai, a district in the Baluchistan province
Miners gather outside the collapsed mine as rescue personnel conduct a search operation for trapped workers. — Photo: AFP / Mines and Minerals Development Department Balochistan
An explosion inside a coal mine in southwest Pakistan killed 12 miners while eight were rescued, an official said on Wednesday.
The bodies of the dead were all recovered after the overnight collapse in Harnai, a district in the Balochistan province, a mine inspector Abdul Rashid said.
He said investigators were still working to determine the cause of the blast.
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Abdullah Shahwani, Balochistan's director general of mining, confirmed the death toll, and said "initial reports suggest the incident was caused by methane gas".
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in a statement expressed his sorrow over the deaths.
Safety standards are commonly ignored in the coal mining industry in Pakistan, leading to accidents and explosions that kill dozens of mine workers every year. Miners often complain that owners fail to install safety equipment.
Despite the danger and low wages, hundreds of miners work in Baluchistan, where unemployment is higher than other parts of the country. Harnai is about 200km east of Quetta, Baluchistan’s capital city.
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