At least 8 killed in Pakistan mine blast

Quetta : A blast at a coal mine has killed at least eight workers on the outskirts of Pakistan’s southwestern city of Quetta, officials said on Monday, with five more feared dead. The mine caved in after the miners used dynamite during an excavation in Sinjidi, some 45 kilometres (28 miles) east of Quetta, the capital of oil and gas rich Balochistan province.

“There were up to 22 workers present in different tunnels in the mine, some who were as deep as 4,000 feet (1,219 metres) when the blast occurred,” provincial chief mines inspector Muhammad Iftikhar told AFP.