HARNAI: Four coal miners were killed and two others injured on Sunday, Sept. 13, when accumulated methane gas exploded inside the underground mine in the Shahrag area of Harnai district, Atif Ali, Balochistan’s chief mines inspector said.
Rescue teams recovered the bodies of the four miners as well as the two injured workers from the damaged mine, Ali said. The rescue operation faced another danger when two members of the rescue team became trapped inside the mine, but both workers were eventually pulled out safely, according to Ali.
The injured workers were later transported from Harnai to Quetta, where they were received medical care. The four miners who died were from Dir district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, officials said.
Deadly accidents in coal mines remain a recurring problem in Balochistan and Sindh. Safety experts and officials have frequently linked such incidents to weak safety systems, dangerous working environments and inadequate protection for mine workers.
A separate mining disaster in July claimed the lives of at least 34 workers after a coal mine collapsed in the Sorange area, according to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority.
The mine owner said at the time that the collapse was caused by a methane gas explosion. He said 42 workers had been inside the mine when the incident occurred and that those trapped underground were residents of Shangla district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
