HARNAI: At least four miners were killed and two others injured after a methane gas explosion in a coal mine in Harnai district of Balochistan, officials said on Sunday.
Chief Mines Inspector Atif Ali said that the explosion occurred after methane gas accumulated inside the coal mine in the Shahrag area.
The bodies of all four deceased miners and the two injured workers were recovered from the affected mine, Ali said.
The injured miners were shifted from Harnai to Quetta for treatment, he added.
During the rescue operation, two rescue workers who had become trapped inside the affected mine were also brought out safely, Ali said.
The chief mines inspector added that all four miners killed in the accident belonged to Dir in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Coal mine accidents are common in Balochistan and Sindh, often due to inadequate safety measures and poor working conditions.
In July, at least 34 miners were killed in a coal mine collapse in the Sorange area, according to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA).
At the time, the mine owner said the collapse was triggered by a methane gas explosion.
As many as 42 labourers were working inside the mine when the incident occurred, and confirmed that all those trapped were residents of Shangla district in KP, he added. –Agencies
