Bodies of eight coal miners pulled out
Miners enter the coalmine near Jhampir on Thursday to retrieve bodies of their colleagues who drowned when the mine got flooded due to heavy rain on Wednesday. Photo: APP
The bodies of eight out of nine coal miners who drowned after rain water filled in mine, were pulled out on Thursday.
The body of a boy could not be found. All the deceased were the residents of Swat.
The bodies were shifted to government hospital Jhirk for the medico legal formalities. Later, Namaz-e-Janaza was offered outside the mine near Meeting railway station.
The deceased have been identified as Abu Bakar 20, Sajjad, 20, Attaullah, 20, Muhammad Azeem, 23, Jan Wali Muhammad, 35, Mian Sher, 35, Gul Chaman, 38, and Pervez, 48.
The body of 12 years old Muhammad Umar Khan was not found till Thursday evening. The bodies were sent to their native place Swat.
The workers were trapped in the 370 feet deep mine due to sudden flooding during the rain. On Wednesday miners blocked the railway track in protest decrying delay in the rescue. They dispersed after three hours of protest on assurance of the administration for expediting the efforts for the rescue.
The company has announced payment of Rs0.8m compensation to the families of each of the deceased while the government will pay Rs0.2m.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 8th, 2022.