Four miners killed after poisonous gas fills mine

QUETTA: Four labourers, three of them Afghan nationals, were killed after poisonous gas filled a mine at Chamalang coalfield on Monday.

According to a Balochistan Levies official, the four miners were extracting coal despite the presence of a large quantity of methane gas. The four men fainted as a result of the poisonous gas and died.

Rescue workers, most of them miners working in a nearby mine, reached the site and helped retrieve the bodies.

The deceased were identified as Afghan nationals Wali Jan, Musa Khan and Naseebullah and Zahir Khan, a resident of Harnai.

The bodies were shifted to a nearby-state run hospital and later sent to their ancestral towns.

“Mine-related incidents are common in Balochistan due lack of proper safety measures. The coalminers work in appalling conditions,” said an official of Balochistan Mines and Mineral Department on the condition of anonymity.

Mine owners are supposed to provide safety equipment like gas detectors, hats, oxygen masks, and gloves before the extraction of minerals form inside the mines, he added.

Over 100 coalminers had lost their lives last year in Balochistan alone.