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QUETTA: At least seven miners were killed and 41 others trapped underground when explosions triggered a collapse in a coal mine in Balochistan province on Sunday, officials said. A total of 48 miners were working around 1,200 metres (1,300 yards) underground in the mine and officials said the chances of the missing surviving were slim.
The mine in the far-flung Sorange district was poorly ventilated allowing poisonous gases to accumulate and cause the three blasts, they said.
Balochistan secretary of Mines and Minerals Mushtaq Raisani told reporters at the site that rescue workers had recovered seven bodies so far.
“Seven dead bodies have been recovered. There is a huge quantity of methane gas inside the mine, the operation may take two days,” he said.
Raisani said rescue work, which was postponed earlier because some of the emergency crew had been left unconscious by the noxious fumes, has been resumed and military experts and engineers have been called in to help.
“They are removing debris and are trying to clear the way to move forward but yet we are not able to move forward,” he said, adding that the mine operators had ignored previous warnings to stop mining at the site.
Earlier Mohammad Iftikhar, provincial chief inspector of mines, told AFP that efforts to rescue the trapped miners had been severely hampered by the choking gas.
“Miners died of suffocation, still a huge quantity of gas is causing difficulties in the rescue work,” he said.
“Some of the rescue team members fell unconscious due to the huge presence of poisonous gas inside. Their colleagues managed to bring them to the surface.”
Balochistan's home secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani confirmed the incident. The coal mine is run by the state-owned Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation.
Most coal mines in the province are notorious for poor safety standards and facilities. Similar deadly accidents have occurred in the past.
