Pakistan mine blast toll up to 24 dead

Mar 21, 2011 |

Pakistan

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The death toll from a coal mine collapse in Pakistan has risen to 24 with another 24 people still missing, officials said on Monday, adding they feared the toll would rise.

"We have recovered 24 bodies — 24 miners are still trapped inside," the secretary of mines and minerals for the insurgency-torn Baluchistan province, where the accident took place, told AFP.

"We are trying our best to rescue them but it will be a miracle if they survive," Mushtaq Raisani added.

The mine in the far-flung Sorange district of the troubled Southwestern province was poorly ventilated, allowing poisonous gases to accumulate and caused three blasts which led to the collapse on Sunday, officials said.

Abdul Raziq, a police officer in Quetta, also said Monday that chances were slim that the trapped workers would be found alive.

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