ABBOTTABAD, Jan 26: Fourteen workers trapped for over 30 hours in a mine in Batkanala village near Tarnawai, some 28km from here, could not be rescued till late Thursday night.

The phosphate mine collapsed on Wednesday night after a rockslide near its entrance.

DPO Karim Khan told Dawn that teams of police, Frontier Works Organisation and Rescue 1122 from Murree were working hard to rescue the miners.

Lack of machinery to clear the boulders made it difficult for the teams to effectively carry out the operation. Earlier, efforts were made to clear the mine with the conventional blasting method. The rescue work was speeded up after some machinery was brought to the area. Officials expressed the hope that the rescuers would be able to enter in eight to 10 hours.

A large number of local people and relatives of the trapped workers gathered around the place.

Most of them were working with shovels and helping the rescue teams.

Sources said exploration of phosphate in the area had been going on illegally for a long time.

An engineer and a worker were buried alive when another phosphate mine in Tarnawai area collapsed some time age.

Police said standard safety rules were not adopted when the mine which collapsed on Wednesday had been developed.

They said mines in the area had no access roads. The miners shift phosphate to the top of the hill and then throw down bags for loading on trucks and tractor trolleys.

Saleem Shahid adds from Quetta: Despite hectic efforts made by rescue officials, the lone worker still trapped inside a coalmine in Mach area of Balochistan could not be rescued till late Thursday night.

He was trapped, along with 14 others, when the mine collapsed on Wednesday night because of heavy snowfall in the area. The 14 were later rescued.

“We are still hopeful to find him alive,” one rescue official said. However, he expressed apprehensions that with the passage of time the chances of finding the miner alive were diminishing.