Islamabad, Aug 2 (dpa/GNA) – At least 32 miners were killed, when a coal mine collapsed in south-western Pakistan, following an explosion triggered by methane gas, officials said on Friday.
Rescue operations were under way to locate miners who were still missing at the site near the city of Quetta, Balochistan province, regional minister Shoaib Nosherwani said.
The accident occurred on Thursday, when around 40 miners were working inside the mine, Nosherwani said. It took rescuers nearly 20 hours to retrieve the bodies after removing the debris, said Mohamed Imran, a rescue department spokesman.
Rescuers are using heavy machinery to dig deeper into the collapsed mine to look for any survivors or retrieve more bodies, Imran said in Quetta.
An inquiry has been ordered to establish the cause of the accumulation of the methane gas in the mine, Nosherwani said. Deadly accidents are common at mines in Pakistan due to poor safety measures and the use of traditional, unscientific mining techniques.
GNA