MAZAR-I-SHARIF (PAN): The coalmine collapse in northern Samangan province was the result of carelessness on the part of engineers and experts, an official said on Monday.
Twenty seven workers were killed, 22 others injured and several others had been missing as a result of the blast inside the coalmine in Do Aab district on Saturday.
Police chief Gen. Mohammad Salim Bekzad told Pajhwok Afghan News a high-level delegation, including the governor, had visited the site on Sunday to investigate the incident.
The explosion had occurred due to negligence carelessness of engineers, he said. “Before the blast, the mine smelt of methane gas. Workers should have come out, but engineers directed them to continue work.”
Gen. Bekzad added the engineers escaped after the incident, but police later captured them and the delegation would question them over the incident.
Siddiqullah Azizi, the governor’s spokesman, said the victims’ families had been provided assistance in compliance with President Hamid Karzai’s directives. Each victim’s family received $1,800 and the injured $360.
Laborers’ Association(AAFTU) head, Dr. Liaqat Adil, asked the government to investigate the issue. He regretted people did not care about workers’ rights and most of them lost their lives in such
