DUKKI (December 27th 2018): At least three coal miners died while two others were rescued when a mine collapsed in Balochistan’s Dukki district today morning, District Police Officer (DPO) Sardar Hashim told media.
According to sources the incident took place in the ‘Chamalang area’ of the district where five miners were working thousands of feet deep inside a mine, when it suddenly collapsed.
A large number of coal miners reached the site of the incident and launched voluntary rescue efforts to ensure the safe recovery of the trapped miners but only two miners could be rescued alive from the collapsed mine.
Bodies of the three deceased miners have also been recovered.
Coal Mine Owners/Contractors only minting money without any security arrangements for labourers or proper compensation thereof.
“Rules are mere in papers rather than in practice,” said Sultan Muhammad Khan, the central leader of Pakistan Central Mines Labour Federation (PMCLF).
According to the PMCLF, casualties from accidents among labourers working in coal mines range from 100 to 200 every year.
“There are almost no safety arrangements for life security of miners,” say coal mine workers of Balochistan.
The regulations framed under the Mines Act, 1923, stipulate a fairly extensive safety and labour welfare regime that must be enacted and observed at all mines.
Under this Act, the key position empowered to carry out and verify the implementation of the Act is that of the chief inspector and the inspectors appointed, pursuant to the 18th Amendment, by the provincial governments.
In the past eight years, more than 318 labourers working in coal mines have been killed in the course of their employment in Balochistan.
Just in the first eight months of this year, at least 50 miners have died in Balochistan and in August alone, 17 coal miners lost their lives in two separate incidents.
According to government sources, there are at least 20,000 labourers employed across Balochistan in 2,500 mines.
Coal mining by itself also being a high risk and hazardous profession is associated to threats of roof collapse, rock burst, gas explosions, suffocation, gas poisoning, lung diseases, incurable diseases like coalworker’s pneumoconiosis (black lung disease) and many other physical risks and health concerns.