ABBOTTABAD, March 31: Six Mines and Minerals Department officials were arrested on Saturday after the additional sessions judge-III rejected their pre-arrest bail plea in the case about the January 2012 deaths of 11 mine workers in Tarnawai.

Those arrested include Assistant Director (Minerals), Hazara, Riaz Khan, Inspector Mohammad Munir, Royalty Inspector Irfanullah and mineral guards Sagheer Ahmad, Nisar and Mohammad Farooq.

Mirpur police station registered a case of the deaths in January 2012 under Section 322-A on the complaint of the government and families of the dead.

The six officials were charged with negligence, which, according to complainants, led to the death of 11 mine workers, who were buried alive in a phosphate mine.

Also in the day, mine worker Abbas Shah died after a phosphate slab hit him inside a mine near Banda Pir Khan.

Over a period of time, phosphate mines of Tarnawai, Qalandarabad and other areas of Abbottabad have reported many deaths of workers due to absence of safety checks. —Correspondent