Coal mine collapse kills 19, traps 34 in Sorang

* Mine in Sorang area collapses after three powerful explosions due to accumulation of methane gas 

* Rescue work continued

By Mohammad Zafar
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QUETTA: At least 19 miners were killed and more than 34 others were trapped when a coalmine in Sorang area collapsed due to powerful explosions resulted from accumulation of deadly methane gas, about 25 kilometers from the provincial capital Quetta.

As many as 53 miners were present some 4,000 meters below the surface when explosions trigged the collapse. “Three explosions occurred in the mine,” an official said, adding that rescue operation was underway to pull the trapped miners out.

“We have retrieved eight bodies so far and rescued four injured miners,” a rescue worker, Muhammad Ali, told Daily Times.

He said that 34 miners were still missing and efforts were underway to pull them out. “There are little chances of their survival because the mine is still filled with methane gas causing trouble to the rescue workers,” he added.

Miners busy in nearby mines said that rescue operation started several hours after the incident. “We had started the rescue operation by the time rescue workers arrived there five hours after the incident,” a miner said.

Provincial Minister for Urban Development, Ismail Gujar, Secretary Mines, Mushtaq Raisani, and other officials rushed to the site and later the army also joined the rescue operations.

Personnel of departments concerned were, however, without proper equipment and this rendered them handicapped to a great extent in delivering assistance to the trapped miners. Inexperienced workers of Metropolitan Corporation Quetta, on the other hand, remained busy in the rescue operation.

Talking to journalists, Provincial Minister for Mines and Mineral Department, Abdul Rehman Mengal, said that a company had been warned a few weeks earlier to stop mining because of accumulation of methane in a huge quantity, which could result in a major disaster.

He said a probe had been launched into the incident and people responsible for it would be taken to task. “Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation (PMDC) is responsible for this incident and the government has constituted a committee which will submit its report within a month,” he added.

There are more than 60,000 miners working in 2,300 mines and most of them do not care about adopting precautionary measures due to which every year dozens of such incidents take place in Balochistan claiming precious lives.

Meanwhile, Balochistan Chief Minister, Nawab Muhammad Aslam Raisani, has expressed grief and sorrow over the loss of human lives and ordered an immediate inquiry into the incident.

He issued directives to the Miners and Minerals secretary to speed up the rescue work and dispatch dead bodies of the victims to their native towns without any delay.

(source:Daily Times, Pakistan)

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