Saturday, February 21, 2015

Pakistan - Former President Zardari grieved over mine tragedy in Loralai in Balochistan

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Former President Asif Ali Zardari has expressed profound grief and shock over the death of seven miners from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa due to suffocation after being trapped in a coalmine in Dukki area in Loralai, Balochistan. 
Seven miners died on Friday after they were trapped in the mine for over twenty four hours when fire broke out in the mine and the exit was blocked while neither safety equipment nor rescue teams were immediately on hand. 
In a statement today Mr. Asif Ali Zardari called for a thorough probe into the tragedy to ascertain whether safety precautions and observance of relevant laws was sacrificed for profit and greed and why the rescue teams were so late in arriving at the scene, fixing responsibility for the same and punishment to those found negligent and guilty.
“A thorough probe must be carried out in the reports that the miners remained trapped for twenty four hours before rescue teams arrived and there were no safety protocols in place for the mine workers”.Steps must also be taken to ensure that such tragedies did not occur again, he said. 
The avoidable tragedy also brings into focus the plight of the labour and working classes driven by poverty to perform dangerous jobs under deplorable conditions and calls for urgent measures for ensuring safety of the poor workers, the former President said in his statement.We owe it to the labour to take concrete steps to alleviate the condition of the wage earners and workers by implementing safety standards in mines and other dangerous occupations, he said. 
The PPP Co-Chair also called for adequate compensation to the families of the victims. Mr. Asif Ali Zardari also prayed for those who died in the mishap and patience to the bereaved families and asked Party leaders to visit the bereaved families.

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