QUETTA – The entire night shift comprising 48 mine workers was believed to have been killed when a government coal mine caved in, in the Sorange area, some 40 kilometres east of Quetta in the early hours of Sunday. Nineteen dead bodies were recovered from the collapsed mine and efforts were underway to recover the rest.
Balochistan Home and Tribal Affairs Secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani told Pakistan Today that the chances of survival of the rest of the 29 workers trapped in the mine were very bleak since there was no way to reach them in the 4,000-foot deep mine. He said army teams, civil defence staff and 786 Rescue personnel had rushed to the site early in the morning to begin rescue efforts.
“A month ago, the Balochistan Mines and Mineral Department had already declared these mines risky after it received an inspection report of the mines by its technical staff and had told Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation (PMDC) staff to stop mining in light of the mine’s condition, but they ignored the serious warnings from experts,” said Balochistan Mines and Mineral Department Secretary Mushtaq Ahmad Raisani.
The cave-in took place at around 1.30am when night shift workers were busy with coal excavation. Two explosions took place because of accumulation of methane gas in the mine and experts said the cause of the explosions might have been a minor spark inside the mine. After the explosions, the entrance of the mine caved in, trapping all the workers inside. The workers who were outside the mine at the time of the explosion informed Mines and Mineral Department officials of the incident and started trying to rescue their trapped colleagues, but failed.
Around 25 relief workers tried to enter the mine from the ventilation exit, but seven of them passed out because of the accumulated methane. However, they were later rescued and provided first aid. Later, the army’s medical and engineering teams reached the site and helped the rescue teams by providing rescue equipment.
The army teams provided food, medicine, search lights and generators to the miners and would remain there until the rescue operation had been completed, said Col Khalid of Inter-Services Public Relations, Quetta. A media team member Mohammad Hussain said the dead bodies recovered so far bore severe burn injuries, which indicated that the explosion was followed by a fire inside the mine.
Provincial ministers Haji Ismail Gujjar and Sardar Aslam Bezenjo reached the site of the accident and reviewed rescue efforts. They said operations in the mine despite dire warnings from government experts was “criminal negligence” and assured the affected families that action would be taken against all those responsible.
All the workers belonged to Shangla of Swat of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and most of them were living with their families. The mine’s labour representative Bakht Nawab told reporters on the phone that safety arrangements in PMDC-run mines were non-existent. He said that despite repeated appeals by the labour federation for safety measures, no action was taken by the government and such mining accidents were common in Balochistan.
He demanded that stern action be taken against those responsible for ignoring the government’s warning.
