Twelve miners were killed and eight rescued after an explosion in a coal mine in southwestern Pakistan, officials said on March 20. "The rescue operation has been just completed," said Balochistan Province's chief inspector of mines, Abdul Ghani Baloch. He said that 20 miners were inside the mine when a methane-gas explosion took place overnight. He added that rescue teams recovered 12 bodies while the survivors had been taken to hospital. Coal deposits are found in the western areas of Pakistan that sit near the Afghan border and mine accidents are common, mainly due to gas build-ups.
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