Sanjdi coal mine blast traps 14 colliers thousands of feet underground

QUETTA: An explosion inside a local coal mine left multiple colliers trapped underground, with no way out, media reported, citing authorities, as efforts to rescue them were underway.

Personnel associated with Levies, Frontier Corps (FC), and Mines & Mineral Development Department have reached the Sanjdi coalfield site soon after the incident was reported.

While it is unclear what caused the blast in the Sanjdi mine, on the provincial capital’s outskirts, the Deputy Commissioner (DC) for Quetta said the pit workers were located in a tunnel at a depth of some 4,000 feet.

A rescue operation was subsequently commenced and was underway, the DC Quetta added.

On the other hand, while expressing sadness at the coal mine incident, Alauddin Marri, the caretaker chief minister for Balochistan, said he has advised authorities to make every possible effort to extract the colliers from inside the tunnel.

Marri added that he has also recommended the rescue operation be sped up in the affected mine.