At least 34 workers were killed in a methane gas explosion at a coal mine in southern Pakistan, the provincial disaster agency said Friday, as rescuers searched for more missing miners.
The blast ripped through the mine near the capital of Balochistan province on Thursday, triggering a rescue operation that continued overnight, reports AFP.
“According to information received from deployed teams, 34 dead bodies have been recovered,” the provincial disaster management authority said in a statement issued early Friday.
It added that the joint rescue operation was still underway to locate and recover other trapped miners, without specifying how many were inside the mine at the time of the explosion.
Mining accidents are frequent in Pakistan, particularly in Balochistan, the country’s largest province by land area but poorest in terms of development.
The region lags behind the rest of the country in education, employment and economic growth.
