KARAK: A worker was killed when a salt mine collapsed here on Tuesday.

The miners said that the victim, Zainullah, and other workers were busy in the mine in Nashpa area near Rehmatabad when a portion of the mine caved in, burying Zainullah, while other workers escaped unhurt.

Soon after the incident, the workers started rescue operation to retrieve the miner from the collapsed mine. After few hours of hectic struggle, they retrieved the body and shifted it to a local hospital.

After completing medico-legal formalities, the body was buried in the Nashpa graveyard.

Meanwhile, the united workers organisation held an emergency meeting with its president Naveed Khattak in the chair to express sorrow over the worker’s death. They said the victim was the sole bread earner of the family.

The meeting recalled that they had already demanded of the lease owners to provide safety gadgets to the miners but they failed to do so, which often resulted in fatal incidents. The participants demanded special compensation package for the family of the deceased. They also showed displeasure over the lukewarm response of the government to the resolution of basic problems of the workers.

They vowed to launch a movement if the government did not shun delaying tactics in payment of compensation to the victims.

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2018