A tragic coal mine accident in Thatta district claimed the lives of at least four labourers and left five others seriously injured on Thursday after a wall collapsed inside an underground mine near Meting railway station. The incident took place at the Ibrahim Coal Mines located in the Kohistani belt of Thatta, Sindh, where workers were engaged in routine mining operations when a sudden cave-in occurred.
According to initial reports, the collapsed wall trapped several miners under heavy debris, triggering panic and an urgent rescue response. Rescue teams, supported by local residents, rushed to the site and launched an intensive operation to recover those trapped inside the mine. After several hours of effort, the bodies of the deceased workers were retrieved, while the injured were pulled out in critical condition.
The deceased miners were identified as Ziaullah, Noor Mohammad, Irfanullah, and Saindad, belonging to Swat and Sanghar districts. The injured workers include Mohammad Hussain, Najeebullah, Malikzada, Naimatullah, and Gul Hassan, who were immediately shifted to hospitals in Jhirrik, Kotri, and Hyderabad for emergency medical treatment. Medical sources confirmed that the condition of some injured workers remains critical.
Police officials stated that the collapse occurred during active mining operations at Ibrahim Coal Mines and confirmed that a formal report has been registered. DSP Jhirrik Wajid Thaheem said that an investigation has been initiated to determine the cause of the incident and whether safety regulations were violated.
Local residents and labour rights activists have raised serious concerns over repeated mining accidents in the region, blaming inadequate safety measures, poor infrastructure, and administrative negligence. They argued that coal mine accidents have become a recurring tragedy in Thatta’s mining areas, despite repeated warnings and past fatalities.
The latest incident has once again highlighted the hazardous working conditions faced by miners in Pakistan’s coal mining sector, where enforcement of occupational safety standards remains weak. Authorities have been urged to implement stricter regulations to prevent further loss of life in such preventable accidents.
