Pakistan: 11 workers suffocated to death after coal mine filled with deadly methane gas in Balochistan

Shaal: At least 11 workers died on Monday from suffocation in the Sanjadi coal mine area outside Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s Balochistan province, an official said. Abdul Ghani, the chief mines inspector in the province, confirmed that 11 workers who were in the mine suffocated to death after the mine filled up with deadly methane gas and collapsed. Sanjadi is some 40 kilometres from Quetta.

“All the workers belonged to Swat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province and their bodies have been recovered and will be sent to their hometown for burial,” Ghani said. Mining in Pakistan is infamous for its hazardous working conditions.

Safety standards are commonly ignored in the coal mining industry in Pakistan, leading to accidents and explosions that kill dozens of mine workers every year. Miners often complain that owners fail to install safety equipment.

Despite the danger and low wages, hundreds of miners work in Baluchistan, where unemployment is higher than other parts of the country.

Last December, a blaze erupted in a privately owned mine situated in the Duki coal region of Balochistan, resulting in the tragic loss of two coal miners’ lives and injuring three others. Additionally, in a separate incident, unidentified assailants fatally shot four coal miners and wounded three more at a coal mine located in the Khust area of Harnai district.