Operation underway to rescue 10 miners trapped in flooded coal pit

THATTA: A rescue operation has been underway in Jhimpir coalmine to safely evacuate 10 miners trapped in the mine since yesterday, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

Ten miners were trapped in the coalmine in Jhimpir yesterday after it was flooded with rainwater. No mine worker yet taken to safety from the coal pit.

Local labourers, 1122 emergency service’s rescuers and the district administration of Thatta has been involved in the rescue operation to safely evacuate the trapped miners.

The rescue workers facing difficulty due to rainfall, deputy commissioner Thatta Ghazanfar Ali has said.

The miners were trapped after rainwater flooded a coal mine near Jhimpir on Tuesday.

Sindh Energy Minister Imtiaz Ahmed Shaikh has said that a rescue operation has been underway for evacuating the miners from the mine.

Last year, six miners were working in a coalmine near Jhampir, when it collapsed. The rescue teams were managed to retrieve bodies of three labourers.

Coal miners have to work in dangerous conditions in Pakistan with poor safety measures.

Frequent incidents of explosions caused by accumulation of poisonous gases in mines and collapse of mines shelves often prove fatal for miners.

According to the Pakistan Central Mines Labour Federation around 200 miners die and hundreds of others are injured in frequent accidents in coal mines only in Balochistan province every year.