'21 labourers dead, seven still missing in Mohmand marble mine incident'

MOHMAND: At least 21 people have died at a marble mine in Mohmand district of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province after a rockslide, ARY NEWS reported quoting provincial labour minister Shaukat Yousafzai on Tuesday.

During his visit to the incident site, Shaukat Yousafzai said that around 35 people were working at the marble mine at the time of the incident. “We have recovered 21 bodies from the debris of the caved-in mine as seven people are still missing,” he said.

He said that the rescue teams reached to the site of the incident soon after receiving reports of the collapse. “It was a difficult rescue operation carried out by rescue workers and Pakistan Army teams,” he said while lauding their efforts.

Shaukat Yousafzai further announced to launch a probe regarding the collapse of the marble mine and said that it needs a thorough probe as to how it caved-in even when there was no blasting process ongoing at the time of the incident.

He further announced financial assistance for dead and injured labourers from the provincial labour department.

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It is pertinent to mention here that the marble mine in Safi Tehsil of Mohmand tribal district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa collapsed during the blasting process, trapping dozens of miners under the debris on Monday.

Soon after the incident, DPO Tariq Habib said the bodies of 14 labourers have been retrieved. He said that a search operation was currently underway, adding that 11 more people are still feared to be trapped under the rubble.