THIS is not the first time that we are seeing miners die in a coalmine accident, in this case in the Sanjdi area of Balochistan. Neither, unfortunately, will this be the last such incident. After a three-day rescue effort launched largely by volunteers, the bodies of all 13 workers in the hellish mine have been retrieved; two rescue volunteers also died of suffocation while trying to retrieve the bodies, bringing the total death count to 15. Like all those who have lost their lives in previous mining accidents in the country, the dead coalminers and rescuers will now be forever a statistic. And there have been many over the years who still lie buried in the mines after an accident.

Such fatalities are becoming far too common now, and perhaps it is time to place some sort of a ban on mining if contractors cannot put in place proper security procedures. In the latest instance, the explosion that caused large sections of the mine to collapse, burying the workers inside, was triggered by a pocket of methane gas. In fact, this is a common trigger for such accidents but not the only one. Yet despite numerous such incidents, there are no discernible rules for how a mine can be run, what qualifications a contractor must meet before obtaining permission, and what safety training must be given to workers. All around the world, extraordinary care is taken by mining companies to ensure that no open flame is allowed anywhere near a coalmine, let alone inside it. But here it is common to see kerosene lanterns being used to light up mining shafts. This is just one example of the hazards to which workers are routinely exposed. There is, of course, hardly any concept of compensation that must be paid in the event of the death of or injury to miners. The sector is one of the most dangerous in Pakistan, and provincial governments need to give more attention to it.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2018