QUETTA: At least three miners died and two others were unconscious on Sunday after exposure to a poisonous gas inside a coal mine in Balochistan’s Dukki district.
According to SHO M Ali, the ill-fated persons were working in coal mine when they fell unconscious after inhaling poisonous gas.
The incident occurred in the coal-rich Chamalang area of Dukki.
Police official Ghulam Ali said the coal miners were working thousands of feet deep inside the mine when the incident happened. Other miners, through their own efforts, retrieved the bodies of the three deceased.
Initially, coal miners themselves tried to retrieve the bodies of their fellows. Rescue teams and locals rushed later to the site.
The unconscious miners were rushed to the nearby rural health centre for medical treatment.
All three men were hailing from Zob, district. Further investigations are underway, the police officials said.
The bodies were handed over to their heirs at the hospital.
At least 20,000 labourers employed across Balochistan in 2,500 mines, according to government figures. Over 318 labourers working in coal mines have been killed in the course of their employment in Balochistan in the past eight years.
Just in the first eight months of this year, at least 50 miners have died in Balochistan
In August, a coal mine in Sanjidi area collapsed, leaving 14 miners dead. The mine collapsed due to an explosion when workers were busy digging deep inside. The bodies of nine workers were pulled out from the collapsed mine on August 13.
Similarly, in May, at least 18 miners died and several were injured after a coal mine collapsed in the Marwar area of Balochistan. In April, at least six miners died of suffocation caused by toxic gas in a Kalat coal mine.
In another incident in April, at least four labourers, including two brothers, were killed while two others were injured when explosions caused collisions in a coal mine in Tilla Jogian, Jhelum.
Earlier this year, six labourers suffocated to death when a coal mine in Kala Khel area, situated on the border of FR Kohat and FR Peshawar, collapsed. The reports suggested that gas produced from the coals filled the mine, leaving the miners trapped.
