Four miners working in a coal mine of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Khyber district on Wednesday passed away after getting exposed to a large quantity of carbon monoxide in Kala Khel region, media reports quoted the district commissioner’s office as saying.
According to a statement by the office, the deceased belonged to Shangla district and their dead bodies have been sent to their hometown for burial.
“Five miners entered the coal mine this morning in order to check carbon monoxide levels and suffocated due to a high concentration of the poisonous gas. One of the miners, who was rescued in time, survived while the remaining four were killed,” according to a report in a local media outlet.
At least nine labourers were killed and three others injured in Kohat in September 2018 after a coal mine caved in as result of an explosion.
In Balochistan alone, as many as 164 labourers working in coal mines have lost their lives and 300 more were facing serious injuries during the last year in various mines.
In most of the incidents, labourers were digging 300 feet deep in coal mines where they reportedly suffocated to death owing to lack of oxygen, according to an APP report.
He said about 0.3 million labourers were employed across the province as each site consists of more than 1,000 mines including Chamalang, Luni, Harnai, Mach, Duki, Marwar and low-range area of the province.