QUETTA: Thirty-two miners died last evening [May 16] in a mine disaster, the second biggest in the mining history of Pakistan in a private coal mine at Sinjadi, about 27 miles north-east of Quetta. The death toll includes one of the three seriously injured miners who were pulled out in the rescue operations. He died in the Civil Hospital, Quetta, at midnight. ... Tragic silence reigns at the pithead. … [T]he accident took place due to an explosion at about 1000 feet depth from the mine mouth in lease no 7... . This is the second major mine disaster in this lease. The first accident, which had claimed 19 lives, had occurred on Feb 10, 1965. The explosion occurred when the evening shift workers were inside the tunnel about to relieve the morning shift. The explosion trapped both shifts. — Agencies

[Meanwhile, as reported by agencies in Islamabad,] Pakistan has rejected the Indian proposal that a Swiss representative should visit Dacca to ascertain the “difficulties” faced by the personnel of the Indian mission there and to resolve these in consultation with the local authorities. A statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ... said that the Indian proposal had no relevance to the question of the fulfilment of India’s assurances to provide necessary facilities to Pakistan’s Deputy High Commissioner in Calcutta.

Published in Dawn, May 18th, 2021