QUETTA: In yet another mining tragedy in Balochistan, a coal mine collapsed on Sunday, killing two miners. Six other trapped workers were rescued from the Khost area of the Harnai district.
After 11 more victims were recovered from the Sanjdi mine on the outskirts of Quetta, the tragedy occurred while excavation was still taking place to rescue the final body.
Following a strong methane gas explosion on January 9, a total of 12 coal miners were buried about 4,000 feet underground beneath the Sanjdi mine. One of the 11 fatalities was originally from Swat, while the other ten were from the Shangla area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
In the recent occurrence, a section of a coal mine in the Harnai district’s Khost coal field collapsed while eight workers were still inside due to cracks that had formed in the mine.
Although six of the miners were soon freed, all of them were stranded.
But two coal miners who were working deep within the mine—later identified as Zahid and Islahat—could not be saved. However, their bodies were recovered after 12 hours of nonstop work.
The Khost mine has been shuttered, and an investigation into the occurrence has been mandated by the department of mines and minerals.
Central Mines of Pakistan
Leaders of the Labour Federation denounced the murders of coal miners.
They declared, “We want awareness-raising programs for their safety as well as ratification of Safety Slandered and ILO-C 176.”
Since no government representatives visited the location, they denounced the government’s inability to enforce safety standards. In order to safeguard the lives of vulnerable coal miners, they said that the frequent tragedies highlighted the urgent need for reforms.
Meanwhile, the remaining body was still being sought in the Sanjdi coalfield area. The 11 bodies recovered from the mine were later given to their legal heirs following medico-legal procedures, chief inspector of mines Ghani Baloch told Dawn, adding that “excavation has been completed up to a depth of 4,100 feet to access the miners trapped in the coal mine caved-in after the blast.”
Following the funeral, which was also attended by Dr. Ibadullah Khan, the opposition leader in the KP Assembly, the bodies of the miners—two of whom were brothers—were sent back to their hometown, Mr. Baloch stated.
Dr. Khan, who arrived in Quetta on Sunday, was briefed about the rescue effort by representatives of the Mines department and the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) at the Sanjdi coalfield.
In addition to mine workers, rescuers from the mines department and the PDMA were working together to complete the rescue operation, and officials expressed hope that it would be finished by Monday.
