22 Afghan miners rescued after coal mine collapse, says official

Rescuers on Sunday freed 22 miners who had been trapped for hours in a collapsed coal mine in northern Afghanistan, a provincial official said, with no serious injuries reported.

All the miners who were trapped when the mine in Dara-i Sof Payin district of Samangan province collapsed late Saturday were rescued, Samangan governor spokesman Esmat Muradi, told AFP, revising the number of those trapped from 32 down to 22.

Rescuers with excavators had been working to open an entrance to the mine since early morning, succeeding after nightfall on Sunday.

"Twenty-two people were trapped and all of them have been rescued," Muradi said.

"The condition of few of them was not good but they were given first aid and are doing better now."

There is scant oversight of Afghanistan's mining industry and deadly accidents are common.

Along with coal, Afghanistan mines marble, minerals, gold, and gemstones, but workers often operate in rudimentary pits without proper equipment or safety gear.

At least 10 miners died in February 2022 after being trapped underground when a coal mine collapsed in the northern province of Baghlan.

In June 2020, seven workers were killed after a gas blast caused a cave-in at a mine in Samangan.

A year earlier, at least 30 people died when a gold mine collapsed in Badakhshan province, where another gold mine collapsed in January last year with unknown casualties.