Rescue workers and locals gather at a coal mine after a blast on the outskirts of Quetta, Pakistan, 30 July 2026. At least 18 miners were killed and dozens of others were trapped after a methane gas explosion ripped through a coal mine complex in the Sorange area near Quetta, Balochistan. Rescue teams continued operations at the site as authorities warned the death toll could rise, while officials launched an investigation into the cause of the blast. EPA/FAYYAZ AHMED A rescue operation is still underway to find and recover the remaining 14 trapped miners, the government said in a statement.
Shoaib Nosherwani, Balochistan’s minister for mines and mineral development, earlier told Reuters that 36 people were in the collapsed part of the complex at the time of the explosion.
Of them, 25 were missing late on Thursday night, he said.
Rescue efforts were under way at a depth of 4,000 feet (1,219 meters), said Muhammad Atif, the chief inspector of mines in the province. “We are hopeful to find some miners alive, but chances are low,” he said.
Abdul Ghani Baloch, a senior government mining official in the region, said: “Two mines close to each other were damaged in a powerful methane gas explosion.”
The explosion occurred in Sorange, a remote area near the provincial capital Quetta.
(Reporting by Saleem Ahmed in Quetta, editing by Rick Noack, Susan Fenton, Rod Nickel and Stephen Coates)
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