Nine miners were killed and two others rescued nearly two days after an underground fire trapped them in a coalmine in Quetta.

At least 11 miners were trapped on Sunday more than a kilometre underground after the fire started in the coalmine following an electrical short circuit. Rescue efforts were hampered by the fire spreading poisonous gas inside the mine near provincial capital Quetta.
Rescue workers on Tuesday managed to recover two coal miners as well as the bodies of eight others who had been trapped in the coal mine. One of the workers died in a hospital due to injuries.

Chief Minister Balochistan has expressed deep sorrow and offered condolences to the families of miners killed in Degaari mine incident.

Chief Minister Jam Kamal has directed the authorities of an inquiry of the incident and provide any possible assistance to the families.

Chief Minister said that mine owners must insure safety measures for the workers to avoid such unfortunate incidents from occurring inside mines.

He ordered Mining department to complete the investigation with three days submit report.

The presence of poisonous gas inside the mine prevented easy access to the mine.
Poor working conditions inside coal mines in Balochistan claim the lives of miners on an almost daily basis in Harnai, Sowrange, Dukki, Mach and other parts of the province, but often go unreported.
Coal mining is considered much more hazardous than hard rock mining due to flat-lying rock strata, generally incompetent rock, leakage or explosion of poisonous gases and coal dust, collapsing of mine stopes or general mechanical errors from improper use and malfunctioning of mining equipment, it added.
According to a finding, just in last one year, more than 160 labourers died while meeting accidents of one kind or another in the mines. And at least 300 miners in this period got injured because of poor safety conditions in these mines. Inarguably, these mines are the real death wells.

One could let an accident go if it is first of its kind. But the coal mine accidents are a routine now mainly in Balochistan. When will the Centre and Provincial government change its perception about poor’s lives? When will the holders of power corridors realise that the poor’s blood is also red? Probably the poor make it to the lowest on the priority list of the state. Therefore, despite hundreds of casualties that happen in coalmines accidents every year, the authorities have taken no steps to minimise the human losses.

Coal miners are forced to work under but they have chosen to do absolutely nothing to rectify the situation because coal is apparently more valuable than the lives of people who dig it from the earth or mountains. The safety and health of workers in coal mine are indispensable and important issues, the accidents and diseases affecting coal mine workers; however, it requires a good understanding and better data regarding dangerous or hazards at work environment. Further it is specified by ILO that the inspectors in coal mine play vital role in the protection and provision of devices to the coal mine workers.

The Provincial government must collaborate with the international organisations working on safe mining. Mines should not become death traps for poor miners.

The blatant exploitation of miners and other labourers ought to be curbed. Making a living is hard, and it doesn’t have to be a walk in the park, but labourers in Pakistan are made to pay too heavy price and receive far too little in return.

Unless the government realizes the urgency and the need to improve these facilities, the life of the coal miners will remain at risk, while mine owners continue to reap the benefits.