Death toll rises to at least 34 after blast at Pakistan coal mine complex

QUETTA, 31st July, 2026 (WAM) -- An explosion buried parts of a mining complex and killed at least 34 miners in Pakistan's Balochistan province ​on Thursday, a Pakistani official said.

A rescue operation is still underway to find and recover the remaining two trapped miners, said Muhammad ‌Fahad, Director of Operations for the Provincial Disaster ‌Management Authority.

Shoaib Nosherwani, ⁠Balochistan's Minister for Mines ​and Mineral Development, ⁠earlier said that 36 people ⁠were in the collapsed part of the ⁠complex at the time of the explosion.

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."