AIBAK (PAN): Extraction work has been halted at nearly 32 coalmine tunnels due to the fear of collapse in Dara-i-Souf district of northern Samangan province, officials said on Thursday.
A technical team ordered the mines closed after an investigation revealed that the tunnels had not been professionally drilled and dug by local workers, deputy head of coal enterprises, Eng. Ali Madad, said.
Each tunnel is 30-40 metres lengthy and about 30 people have been working in these mines, Dara-i-Souf district chief, Ahmad Ali Hassani, said.
He said currently workers were busy working in tunnels which were safe and not risky.
A total of 2500 workers have been extracting coals from 200-250 private coal mines, he added.
The government received more than 528 million afghanis in taxes from the mines in Dara-i-Souf during the first half of this year, the governor's spokesman, Mohammad Siddiqui Azizi, said.
