The accident occurred in Batkinala, a remote village in Abbottabad district, when 11 mine workers, including two owners, were buried alive as a heavy mass of the phosphate mine fell on them. They were reportedly having lunch at the mouth of the mine, sources said.
Attempts to launch a rescue operation were made as soon as villagers contacted police and district administration officials, but the mine is located at a steep point which is inaccessible by land.
A rescue operation was carried out by the Rescue 1122 team and Pakistan Army personnel. Residents also helped carrying out the rescue operation.
Sniffer dogs were also used to find the bodies.
DCO Abbottabad Imtiaz Hussain confirmed that 11 mine workers had died. He said they were working on a private mine, which was not managed by the mineral department.
Provincial Disaster Management Authority Spokesman Adnan Khan confirmed the names of the dead as: Naseem Shah s/o Bashir Shah, Waheed Shah s/o Sabaz Shah, Muzafar s/o Sabaz Shah and Saeed Shah s/o Muzafar Shah from Guldania village, Javed s/o Samandar and Zakir s/o Abdul Rehman from Tahari village, Abdul Raziq s/o Abdul Karim and M Younas s/o M Maskeen from Paga village, Riaz s/o Gohar Rehman from Batkanala village and Nadeem s/o Aurangzeb from Nana Shingalia village.
WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT BY IFTIKHAR FIRDOUS IN PESHAWAR.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of the story incorrectly stated PDMA as Pakistan Disaster Management Authority. It stands for Provincial Disaster Management Authority. The error is regretted.
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The phosphate rock is a raw material to manufacture single super phosphate fertilizer which is largelly required for successfull cropping as our soils are deficient in phosphorus. It is regretted that our huge fertilizer industry and rock phosphate suppliers did not offer any compensation to deceased families of mine workers. I understand that this type of mine exploration is not technical and even did not have the first-aid provisions. It is a matter of deep concern on part of our government (ministry of minerals), agriculture department, fertilizer industry and also on fertilizer controller (Punjab) as Punjab is the biggest recipient of phosphate rock. ,
No media coverage for these poor ones
This is a very tragic incident. Mine Workers are deprived of even basic safegaurds
tragic indeed . Mines shouldn't be allowed to function unless they don't have necessary infrastructure to cater disaster situation.
It is very ironic that 11 mine workers died while the government has done nothing only tall claims. In China, mine workers were buried but there government rescued the workers. Shame on our government who fails on all fronts. Very sad :(