Harnai mine cave-in claims two lives

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QUETTA:

Two miners lost their lives on Wednesday when a coal mine caved in during deep excavation work in the Khost area of Harnai district, officials and local witnesses confirmed.

The collapse occurred inside a pit operated by local contractor Mehrullah, trapping the workers under heavy debris. Fellow miners and community volunteers launched an immediate rescue effort, working by hand and with basic tools to reach the buried men. After hours of frantic digging, the bodies of the deceased were recovered from the rubble.

The fatalities mark the latest in a long and grim succession of industrial accidents across Balochistan's coal-rich but perilously unregulated mines. Labour advocates say that fatal incidents are so frequent that they have become a grim norm, with provincial authorities routinely failing to enforce even the most elementary workplace safeguards.

Trade union leader Peer Muhammad Kakar reacted with sharp condemnation, directing his anger at the provincial Mines and Minerals Department. "This is not an accident, this is institutional negligence," Kakar told reporters. "The department has abandoned its legal duty. Safety protocols exist only on paper. Thousands of miners descend into these pits every day with no helmets, no support systems, and no emergency response plan."