SHANGLA: The bodies of four coalminers, who were killed after inhaling poisonous gas at a coalmine in Quetta on Friday, reached here on Saturday. Later, they were laid to rest in their native Kahoo Mayar village graveyard in Alpuri tehsil.

Ali Bhash Khan, a local resident, told Dawn all the victims belonged to the same family. He quoted the victims’ colleagues as saying that two other miners had also fallen unconscious when a coalmine in the suburbs of Quetta city was filled with poisonous gas.

The victims were identified as Mujeebullah, 22, Eshrat Hussain, 23, Asif Ali, 25, and Saeed Badshah, 20.

“Working conditions for miners are very poor,” Gul Sharif, a labour leader, lamented. “The workers are neither provided proper protective gear nor compensated in case of an accident.”

He said about 200 coalminers of Shangla had died while working in coalmines in various parts of the country, but despite that the authorities had yet to pay them the promised compensation.

WOMAN COMMITS SUICIDE: A woman committed suicide by jumping into the Indus River in Bisham on Saturday over allegedly failing to get possession of her children from her former husband.

Locals said the victim had got married with a man at Bobai Bisham and had two children from him, but due to domestic issues she was living with her parents. Later, she had filed a case in court seeking divorce and children’s custody, they added.

The local divers were yet to fish out the body from the river.

ROAD ACCIDENT: Eight people were injured in separate road accidents on Saturday.

Police said a car coming from Swat to Shangla fell into a gorge while negotiating a sharp turn in Puran, as a result, six people of a family were injured. The wounded were taken to the district headquarters hospital, Alpuri.

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2017