QUETTA/KARACHI: A four-member team of Chinese experts reached the Dudder area of Lasbela district on Thursday to help rescue two Chinese engineers and a Pakistani worker trapped inside a lead and zinc mine for the past six days.

MMC Huaye Dudder Mining Company (MHD) chairman Zou Jianhui also rushed to the site from Beijing, while its president Kong Fuian is already at the site supervising the rescue operation.

“The two Chinese engineers had gone inside the mine to rescue the Pakistani worker, but they were also trapped there,” officials of the Directorate of Chief Inspector of Mines told Dawn on Thursday.

The incident took place when a lift fell in 1,000 metres deep inside the mine. Four Chinese and one Pakistani were working inside the mine at the time. The Chinese workers managed to reach the shaft and come out of the mine through ladders. But Pakistani worker Mohammad Anwar, an electrician who was performing duty at the water pump, is still inside the mine.

The entire power system providing electricity and fresh air and machinery used for cooling the high temperature inside the mine had been destroyed due to the incident.

The Chinese engineers, who had gone inside the mine along with oxygen cylinders, water and food, first aid and telephone cable to rescue the Pakistani worker, lost contact with rescue workers outside the mine after half an hour.

Sources in the MHD said that more rescue personnel, including Chinese, had been sent inside the mine, but they could not reach the place of trapped workers because of heat and gasses.

Officials told Dawn that till Sept 25 there was some voice coming from inside the mine, but for the past four days there was a complete silence.

“We cannot confirm any thing about the life of the trapped workers until rescue teams reach the place of the incident,” a senior official of the MHD said, adding that heat and gasses were hampering the rescue operation.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) also sent its teams which were working with Chinese officials.

“Four Chinese experts, who had arrived in Karachi from Beijing earlier in the morning, along with the MHD chairman, rushed to Dudder for assisting in rescue efforts. “The Chinese experts have evolved their strategy for making progress in the rescue operation,” the MHD official told Dawn.

Lasbela Deputy Commissioner Zulfiqar Ali Hashmi and the Awaran Scouts commandant are also at the site supervising the rescue operation.

Chief inspector mines, Balochistan, Iftikhar Ahmed Khan said ventilation was a huge problem in mines and “we have consistently informed those in the authority. Plus, gases form easily within the mines, especially wherever there is lead and zinc. We are hoping against hope that these people (trapped workers) survive.”

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2016