Sawt Falasteen - Explosion at coal mine kills 34 in southern Pakistan

The explosion, suspected to be caused by methane gas, tore through the mine near the capital of the resource-rich province of Balochistan on Thursday, sparking a rescue operation that ran through the night.

"According to information received from the deployed teams, 34... bodies have been recovered," southern Balochistan's provincial disaster management authority said in a statement in the early hours of Friday.

"The joint rescue operation is still underway to locate and recover the remaining trapped miners," it added, without specifying how many were in the mine when the explosion took place.

Witnesses said that after hearing the blast, an unknown number of miners in the area rushed to try to reach workers inside.

"Other miners descended into the mine after the explosion for a rescue operation, but they also died," Ahmed Zada, a mine worker at the site, told AFP.

- Safety concerns -

Relatives, rescuers, and miners gathered at the mine entrance in Sorange, around 50 kilometres (31 miles) from the provincial capital Quetta, as the rescue operations were carried out.

Rescuers and workers, some wearing hard hats but most in everyday attire, helped carry bodies out of the concrete tunnel, some covered in black soot.

They ferried them on stretchers to waiting vehicles and ambulances near the entrance to the mine.

Mining accidents are common in Pakistan, particularly in Balochistan, and labour rights movements have previously called for ramped-up safety standards and enforcement for the sector.

Pakistan's poorest province and largest by landmass, Balochistan lags behind the rest of the country in almost every index, including education, employment and economic development, but is rich in resources including coal -- as well as more lucrative gold and copper reserves.

A.AlHaj--SF-PST