‘In Southern Pakistan, two bodies have been pulled from a collapsed mine with eight more people feared dead’, said rescuers.
A gas explosion rocked the private coal pit in the mining region of Khost, 80 kilometres (50 miles) east of Quetta, on the evening of Tuesday, trapping 10 people about 800 feet (244 metres) below ground.
‘Two dead bodies were recovered by the rescue teams overnight’ Ghani Baloch, said the chief inspector of mines for Balochistan province.
The chief inspector said, ‘We fear the rest of the workers may not be alive, but our rescue team members are trying their best to recover them’.
A group of eight who tried to rescue their colleagues also became trapped for several hours, but were later brought to safety by a government rescue team — some of them unconscious.
Rescue teams from the government’s mining department and disaster management agency are at the site. ‘The cause of the incident was an accumulation of carbon monoxide gas followed by an explosion. As a result the mine caved in’, said Ghani Baloch.
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