QUETTA: At least six workers lost their lives in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province on Friday after a methane gas explosion trapped them inside a coalmine, said a senior official while speaking to Arab News.
The incident took place in Harnai district on Thursday during an illegal mining operation, leading to a daylong rescue operation in which six bodies were retrieved from the facility.
“The mine caved in because of the gas explosion on Thursday afternoon, leaving 11 coal miners trapped inside,” Balochistan’s chief mines inspector Abdul Ghani said. “After a daylong operation, six bodies were found and five injured workers were shifted to a nearby health facility for treatment.”
Ghani informed the mine had been closed for the last two years, adding that a local contractor had started using the facility without informing the relevant department.
“We have initiated an inquiry against the contractor and the mine owner,” he continued, “and will take legal action against them on the basis of this incident.”
Balochistan has large deposits of coal, natural gas, copper and gold. Many of these are extracted by the Chinese companies.
Baloch separatist groups have often targeted miners and security forces in the region.
In 2022, 56 coalmine accidents were reported in Balochistan that claimed the lives of at least 76 workers who lacked proper safety equipment.
Chief Minister Balochistan Mir Abul Quddus Bizenjo expressed concerns over the rising number of such incidents in the province and directed relevant officials to submit a report about the safety of coal mine laborers in the province.
“It is the mine owners who are responsible for the safety of their workers,” the chief minister said in a statement issued after the recent incident.
Ghani informed Arab News the mine owners were hired by local contractors who often encouraged these workers to go for deep digging to get large quantities of coal without providing them safety equipment or carrying out periodical inspections of the mine.
On February 27, four miners were killed in an alleged “targeted killing” in Khost, a mountainous region in district Harnai of Balochistan. No group has as yet claimed responsibility for the attack in an area where armed groups often use extortion against contractors and workers at mining sites.
In June 2021, Daesh claimed responsibility for an attack that killed 11 miners from Pakistan’s minority Hazara community in Balochistan province. The throats of all 11 coal miners had been slit, their hands were tied behind their backs and they were blind folded, according to investigators.
