Harnai: Relief operation to rescue trapped coal miners continues

HARNAI: Three coal miners still trapped at a coal mine in Balochistan’s Harnai district after 24 hours of a gas explosion, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

“The rescue operation has been underway at the coal mine to retrieve three miners trapped in the mine,” deputy commissioner Harnai Muhammad Rafiq Tareen said.

“Rescue workers facing difficulty owing to discharge of the poisonous gas in the coal mine,” DC said.

A gas explosion in a mine at Zarghoon Ghar area of Harnai district left six miners injured on Tuesday morning.

The coal miners were extracting coal from the mine when the gas blast took place, official said.

The injured coal miners were rushed to district headquarters hospital Harnai for medical attendance.

According to reports, the district administration approached the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) to ensure safe recovery of the trapped miners.

A large number of people and coal miners from nearby mines gathered at the affected mine pit.

This incident has come a day after three coal miners were injured in a similar methane gas blast in Dukki area of Balochistan.

Methane gas explosions inside coal mines of Balochistan have claimed scores of precious human lives in Harnai, Dukki, Mach, Quetta and other parts of the province.

Mines workers federation said that fatal incidents were increasing because of lack of enforcement of laws related to mines.

Coal mining has been historically fraught with hazards, which include suffocation, gas poisoning, roof collapse, rock burst, gas explosions and a plethora of lung diseases, including incurable diseases like coal worker’s black lung disease.