24 DEAD, 24 MISSING IN PAKISTAN'S COAL MINE BLAST

QUETTA, Pakistan - 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 Balochistan 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.
• Poisonous methane gas was hampering the work of rescue workers, who have been working to save the men since an explosion early on Sunday caused the mine to collapse.
• "We are trying our best to rescue as many workers as we can, but the chance of finding survivors is bleak now," said Iftikhar Ahmad, a top mine inspector.
• Many of the miners they have found dead so far suffocated from the gas, he said. The mine was declared dangerous two weeks ago, but the warning was ignored, said Ahmad.

The mine is owned by the state-run Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation but leased to a contractor, he said.

Source: AFP