At least 34 miners in Pakistan were killed and 10 other remained trapped after a methane gas explosion ripped through a coal mine in Balochistan province on Thursday, as officials told news agency AP.
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While rescuers continued a race against time to reach those still underground.
The explosion took place on the outskirts of Quetta, the provincial capital, and was apparently triggered by a buildup of methane gas, according to government mine inspector Ghani Baloch.
Rescue teams initially recovered the bodies of seven miners before locating 25 more, provincial officials and the disaster management agency said in a statement. The search and rescue operation was continuing as teams worked to locate and recover the remaining trapped workers.
Baloch said rescue efforts would continue until all those trapped were accounted for, but warned that the death toll was likely to rise.
“The chances of finding anyone alive diminish after methane gas explosions because oxygen levels drop to zero, and rescuers are also proceeding cautiously inside the mine,” Baloch said.
Authorities have begun handing over the recovered bodies to their families for burial, while relatives of the missing miners continued to wait anxiously for updates, Baloch added.
Balochistan's minister for mines and minerals Shoaib Nosherwani said rescue personnel were operating under extremely challenging conditions.
Nosherwani expressed condolences to the victims' families and announced that the provincial government would provide compensation of 500,000 Pakistani rupees (about $1,800) to the family of each miner killed in the blast.
He said authorities would conduct a thorough investigation into the cause of the explosion and review mining safety measures to prevent similar incidents.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Central Mines Labour Federation alleged that negligence may have contributed to the disaster. In a statement, the union urged the government to strictly enforce mining safety regulations and take stringent action against companies that violate mine safety laws.
Fatal accidents are frequent in Pakistan's coal mining industry, particularly in Balochistan, where many mines operate without adequate ventilation, gas monitoring systems or other essential safety measures.
Labour groups and mine workers have repeatedly accused mine owners of ignoring safety standards and failing to provide proper protective equipment.
Despite the hazardous working conditions and meagre wages, thousands of people continue to rely on coal mining for their livelihoods in Balochistan, Pakistan's largest yet least developed province, where poverty and unemployment remain widespread.
