Day three: Operation under way to retrieve miners’ bodies

QUETTA:

Rescuers on Saturday continued their efforts to retrieve the bodies of seven miners who were buried alive when an explosion inside the Duki Coalfield mine triggered a landslide.

Thursday’s mine collapse left eight miners dead, including one who had gone there to rescue those trapped inside. Up to 15 miners were injured as they tried to rescue their colleagues.

“There is too much methane gas in the mine which is hindering efforts to recover the bodies,” Levies official Habibur Rehman told The Express Tribune on Saturday pointing out that methane was highly combustible. “The operation is still under way.”

He said it could take another 12 hours to retrieve the bodies of the seven miners.

Dr Ibadullah Khan, a member of the National Assembly from Shangla, visited the mine for a first-hand account of the incident. The coalmine is being run by a sub-contractor who obtained the contract from Agha Mohammed Sharif Tareen Company.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 22^nd, 2015.