Blast at Pakistan coal mine complex kills at least 18
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Rescue workers and locals gather at a coal mine after a blast on the outskirts of Quetta, Pakistan, on July 30.
PHOTO: EPA
- An explosion at a coal mine complex in Balochistan, Pakistan, killed at least eight miners and left dozens missing.
- Thirty-six miners were trapped at a depth of 4,000 feet; rescue efforts continue but chances of survival are low.
- The blast was caused by a powerful methane gas explosion affecting two nearby mines in Sorange, near Quetta.
AI generated
QUETTA – At least 18 coal miners were killed after an explosion buried parts of a mining complex in Pakistan’s Balochistan province on July 30, the Balochistan government said.
A rescue operation is still under way to find and recover the remaining 14 trapped miners, the government said in a statement.
Shoaib Nosherwani, Balochistan’s minister for mines and mineral development, earlier told Reuters that 36 people were in the collapsed part of the complex at the time of the explosion.
Of them, 25 were missing late on the night of July 30, he said.
Rescue efforts were under way at a depth of 1,219m, said Muhammad Atif, the chief inspector of mines in the province.
“We are hopeful to find some miners alive, but chances are low,” he said.
Abdul Ghani Baloch, a senior government mining official in the region, told Reuters that “two mines close to each other were damaged in a powerful methane gas explosion.”
The incident occurred in Sorange, a remote area near the provincial capital Quetta. REUTERS
