Twenty-three miners were killed and 11 were injured in separate incidents at two coal mines in southwest Pakistan, officials say.
Attaullah Khan, Pakistan’s director of disaster management, on May 5 said a blast caused by a buildup of methane gas in the Marwar coalfields in Balochistan Province led to the collapse of a mine, trapping many workers.
"We have retrieved 11 bodies," said Khan, who added that five other bodies were still in the mine.
The Marwar coalfields are some 60 kilometers east of the Baluchistan capital, Quetta.
Jawaid Shahwani, the top government official in Quetta, said 16 of the 25 people inside the mine at the time were killed, with the remaining miners rescued and taken to hospital for treatment.
Seven miners were killed after a mine collapsed in similar circumstances at Spin Carez.
Mines in Pakistan are mostly owned by state-run Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation, which leases many of them to private contractors.
The country has suffered many coal-mine disasters, a situation critics have blamed on poor safety measures.