HARNAI: Four coal miners were killed and two others sustained injuries after a methane gas explosion ripped through a mine in Harnai district of Balochistan on Sunday, officials said.
Chief Mines Inspector Atif Ali said the incident took place in the Shahrag area after methane gas accumulated inside the underground mine and triggered an explosion.
Rescue teams recovered the bodies of all four miners as well as the two injured workers from the site, he said.
The injured workers were initially taken to Harnai before being shifted to Quetta for further medical treatment, according to the official.
Two rescue personnel who became trapped during the operation were also safely evacuated from the mine, Ali added.
He said all four miners who lost their lives in the incident were from Dir district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Mining accidents remain frequent in Balochistan and Sindh, with officials and workers often citing inadequate safety arrangements and hazardous working conditions as major concerns.
In July, 34 miners were killed when a coal mine collapsed in the Sorange area, according to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA).
The mine owner had said at the time that the collapse was caused by a methane gas explosion. He added that 42 labourers had been working underground when the accident occurred and that all those trapped were residents of Shangla district in KP.
