HYDERABAD: Three young workers lost their lives in a mine in Lakhra coalfield on Thursday apparently due to non-enforcement of safety measures, which are considered essential for ensuring safe mining work, by the Sindh mines and minerals department.

The deceased mineworkers were identified as Madad Ali Baloch, Wahid Baloch and Ali Sher Baloch. They were said to be residents of Khanote, Jamshoro district, and related to each other. Their bodies were shifted to a hospital in Lakhra.

The victims’ supervisor, Abdul Wahab Kohistani, suffered injuries and was admitted to hospital.

According to reports and police, the incident took place in the mine run by Al-Gharib and Company, a contractor of the Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation (PMDC).

Workers died of asphyxia in Lakhra mine

Qamoos Gul Khattak, a veteran labour leader, said the PMDC was a federal body which had been given a lease by the Sindh government for mining and it was its responsibility to take care of everything for the mineworkers. But these workers had been hired by the contractor — Al-Gharib and Company — and this contract system had no legal value as per the apex court’s ruling, he added.

It is learnt that the workers died of asphyxia. They entered the coalmine which was lying closed for a few months and gasses had accumulated inside it.

Their bodies were immediately recovered and shifted to hospital, otherwise during any such incident, such as collapse of coalmine, it can take hours to recover a body by digging a trench from the other side.

Mr Khattak, who is secretary general of the Muttahida Labour Federation, claimed that there was a serious lack of implementation of safety measures by the inspectorate of mining from the Sindh minerals department. He said most of the coalmines didn’t have staff like ‘mine sardar, mine managers, engineers’, etc.

He confirmed that the coalmine was lying closed and when the labourers entered it they suffered from loss of breathing and collapsed. He said that in a closed mine gasses always accumulated and, therefore, it was always checked by mine staff before resuming operation.

A labour force of about 10,000 is engaged in coalmine work in Lakhra, which increases to 12,000 during the winter season.

Around 26 companies, mostly from the private sector, are working in the area, barring a few public sector organisations like the PMDC and Lakhra Coal Development Company.

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2017