Afghanistan: 2 coal mine workers killed, 35 others fainted due to gas suffocation

Kabul [Afghanistan], June 15 : Two coal mine workers were killed, while 35 others fainted due to gas suffocation in Afghanistan's Samangan province, Afghanistan-based Khaama Press reported citing Taliban's provincial officials.

Mohammad Nasim Khybershekan, the Taliban-led district governor of Dara-e-Suf Bala, Samangan province, has confirmed that the incident that took place in the Merak Dahane mine in Dara-e- Suf Bala district on Saturday, according to Khaama Press report. Khybershekan said that the main reason behind the death and suffocation of mine workers was non-professional mining in the region.

Meanwhile, the provincial health officials said that the suffocated people were shifted to a hospital. Earlier on Saturday, a coalminer died while another went unconscious due to gas suffocation in a coal mine in Afghanistan's Baghlan province, Khaama Press reported.

A toxic gas leaked while workers worked in a coal mine in the Tala-o-Barfak district. A mine worker died while another fainted due to a gas leak. The officials said that unsafe mining practices, poor equipment, and unskilled workers are the reason behind mining causalities.

Earlier on May 23, a total of four coal mine workers have died of suffocation from an explosion in Afghanistan's Baghlan province coal mines, officials said, Khaama Press reported.

On May 23, two separate gas explosions in the Tale Barfak and Jalgah districts of Afghanistan's Baghlan province resulted in the deaths of four coal mine workers.

Earlier on May 17, a coal miner died of gas inhalation while sex others were poisoned in the Baghlan province, Tale Barfak district, raising more questions about the country's mine safety regulations.

In the first instance, two brothers named Nazmir and Abdulsir died after being gassed while working in a coal mine in the village of "Peshte Marq" in the Tale Barfak district, according to Abdullah Hamid, the head of Taliban mines in Baghlan, confirmed the two incidents, according to Khaama Press. In the second occurrence, a father and son named Shir and Dost Mohammad died while working in the Jalgah district's "Shahkul Chenark" area.