One miner dies in Harnai coal mine collapse

HARNAI: One miner died on Friday and three became unconscious when a coal mine collapsed in Balochistan’s Harnai district.

The miners were extracting coal from a depth of thousands of feet when suddenly the mine collapsed, leaving all four miners trapped inside, Levies sources.

Frontier Corps and rescue workers reached the affected mine and launched a rescue operation. Levies officials said all four miners were rescued after five hours.

However, one of them, identified as Hakeem — a resident of Sanjavi Chauteer valley — died on the way to hospital. The remaining three coal miners were admitted in Harnai hospital for medical treatment.

Poor working conditions inside coal mines in Balochistan claim the lives of miners on an almost daily basis in Harnai, Sowrange, Dukki, Mach and other parts of the province, but often go unreported.

Earlier in August, 14 coal miners and four rescue workers died as result of methane gas explosion in a mine in Harnai district. The rescue operation was underway for six days and all the trapped miners and rescue workers dead bodies were retrieved in the aftermath of a long rescue operation.

Coal mining is considered much more hazardous than hard rock mining due to flat-lying rock strata, generally incompetent rock, leakage or explosion of poisonous gases and coal dust, collapsing of mine stopes or general mechanical errors from improper use and malfunctioning of mining equipment.

Hazardous working conditions inside coal mines of Balochistan continue to claim precious human lives.

Between 100 and 200 labourers die on average in coal mine accidents every year, according to the Pakistan Central Mines Labour Federation (PCMLF).