ISLAMABAD, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- A coal mine collapsed due to an explosion in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province, killing one miner and trapping 11 others thousands of feet deep underground, officials said on Friday.
Balochistan Chief Inspector of Mines Abdul Ghani Baloch told media that the explosion caused by methane gas that occurred when more than a dozen miners were digging coal inside the mine in the Sanjidi area of Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan.
He said that the body of one mine worker has been recovered, while rescue efforts are underway to recover the remaining 11 miners, who have been trapped for several hours in the coal mine.
Multiple teams comprising mining engineers and other rescue staff have been dispatched and the debris is being removed by the rescuers to make a way inside the mine, the official said.
According to the rescuers, the mine completely collapsed after the gas explosion, blocking all the ways to the mine and hampering rescue activities.
Mining accidents are common in Pakistan as health and safety standards are seldom put in place in the mines primarily because of sporadic and irregular mine inspections, according to a recent report by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. ■
