Hussain Zarkoon:Â
DUKI — A fatal gas leak inside a coal mine in the Ulta area of Duki district resulted in the death of one miner, while two others were left injured on Saturday.
​Local sources confirmed that toxic gas accumulated rapidly within the mine shaft, asphyxiating the workers on duty. Emergency rescue efforts pulled three men from the pit, but one succumbed to the toxic fumes shortly after.
​The deceased has been identified as Faiz Muhammad Khan, son of Saltanat Khan, a resident of Swat Ghashin belonging to the Swati Syed tribe. The two injured miners, identified as Muhammad Tariq (son of Syed Jamshed) and Samiullah (son of Waroki), also belong to the Swati Syed community. Both surviving miners were rushed to a nearby medical facility for urgent treatment.
​A Pattern of Neglect: Hazardous Conditions in Balochistan Coal Mines
​This fatal incident is far from an isolated event. Hazardous and substandard working conditions inside the coal mines of Balochistan have claimed thousands of precious human lives over the decades, turning the region’s mines into dangerous death traps for poor laborers.
​Despite repeated tragedies involving toxic gas accumulation, mine collapses, and lack of basic safety equipment or emergency ventilation systems, systemic safety standards remain severely lacking across most mining sites in the province. Mine workers—most of whom are daily-wage migrants from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and local areas—continue to risk their lives in hazardous subterranean shafts without adequate safety measures or medical safeguards.
