30 January, 2020The start of 2020 has seen increasing accidents and deaths in Pakistan’s coal mines, exposing the near non-existence of safety measures and continued negligence from the employers and the government.
A coal miner was killed as a trolley filled with coal hit him in the Duki area of the Baluchistan province on 27 January. In the same area a few days earlier, on 23 January, a worker was killed and five others were trapped in the mine after a landslide.
These accidents followed a violent start of the year for Pakistan’s coal miners.
On 3 January one miner died, and two were seriously injured at the Margat coal field. Barely a week later, on 12 January, two young miners were killed in separate mine collapses in Tirah and Darra Adamkhel.
On 15 January a coal miner was electrocuted at work. On 21 January, two coal miners were killed as poisonous gas engulfed the mine following an explosion. And on 22 January, another coal miner lost his life due to electrocution.
Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL mining director, says:
“According to published media reports, more than 430 coal mine workers have been killed since 2010, and this may even be an underestimation.
“IndustriALL is urging the government of Pakistan to ratify and implement ILO convention 176 on safety and health in mines without delay. It is high time Pakistan’s government takes concrete measures to stop the continuing deaths of coal miners.”
IndustriALL is campaigning to end Pakistan’s mine safety crisis and calling on the government to urgently implement the needed steps to improve safety situation in the country’s mines.