Quetta, Pakistan. At least 11 coal miners were killed and 25 were missing after a methane gas explosion damaged two mines in Balochistan province on Thursday.
Rescue operations were under way in the collapsed section of the mining complex in Sorange, a remote area near the provincial capital Quetta.
Rescue operation
Balochistan Minister for Mines and Mineral Development Shoaib Nosherwani said 36 people were in the collapsed part of the complex when the explosion occurred.
By late Thursday, 25 miners remained missing, he said.
Muhammad Atif, the province’s chief inspector of mines, said rescue efforts were being carried out at a depth of 4,000 feet (1,219 metres).
“We are hopeful to find some miners alive, but chances are low,” Atif said.
Damage to two mines
Abdul Ghani Baloch, a senior government mining official in the region, said two nearby mines were damaged by a powerful methane gas explosion.