HARNAI, Balochistan: Six workers remained trapped inside a Harnai coal mine on Sunday after poisonous gas affected eight miners, while rescuers brought two workers out alive, police said.
Rescuers took the two rescued miners to a hospital in Shahrag before referring them to Quetta for further treatment. Police said both workers were residents of Swat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Rescue efforts were continuing to reach the six miners still underground. Authorities had not announced their condition or identified the type of gas involved in the latest update.
Read: Sorange Coal Mine Blast Kills at Least 34 Near Quetta
The incident comes amid renewed scrutiny of mine safety in Balochistan. On September 10, the National Assembly Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development called for mining leases to be reviewed and for stronger compliance with worker-registration and safety requirements after recent deaths in the province’s coal mines.
Balochistan’s Inspectorate of Mines is responsible for mine-site inspections, worker safety, disaster response and testing mine environments for hazardous conditions, according to the provincial Mines and Minerals Development Department.
