Efforts to retrieve 7 coal miners bodies in Duki still underway

Officials say it could take more than 12 hours to take the bodies of miners out

QUETTA: A rescue operation is still underway to retrieve the dead bodies of the seven coal miners who are trapped in 2,200-feet deep  coalmine at Duki Coalfield in Loralai district.

The coalmine collapsed on Thursday after a huge explosion, causing a landslide with the miners trapped inside. At least eight were killed and 15 others were injured as they made efforts to rescue their colleagues.



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“There is  huge quantity of Methane inside the mine which is causing trouble in the rescue operation,” Levies official Habibur Rehman told Express Tribune on Saturday. “The rescue operation is still underway to retrieve the bodies," he added.

He said the rescue operation could take more than 12 hours for the bodies of seven coal miners to be taken out.

The member of National Assembly from Shangla, Dr Ibadullah Khan visited the mine which belongs to a private contractor who had got the contract from Agha Mohammed Sharif Tareen Company.

“The incident occurred purely due to negligence. It seems as if no safety measures were adopted,” an official at the site said, adding that “the mine was poorly ventilated."

With no rescue facility available nearby, miners started a rescue mission and 14 of them have been wounded as a result of Methane gas.

A formal rescue missing started 15 hours later on Friday afternoon, and rescue workers made attempts to pull dead bodies and the injured from the mine.