Rescuers were trying to recover five miners trapped in a coal mine near Muzaffarabad on Sunday but there were bleak chances of their survival, an official said.

The incident was reported from Seri Darra village in the evening after a gas explosion resulted in collapsing of mine stopes, Muzaffarabad Deputy Commissioner Masoodur Rehman told Dawn from the site.

Seri Darra is located towards the east of Muzaffarabad, at an hour-long drive through a steep hilly road.

“At the time of the explosion, seven workers were inside the mine. Two of them were towards the mouth of the tunnel so they rushed outside, but the remaining five were trapped inside,” Rehman said.

“They are trapped some 800 feet ahead of the mine's entrance and so far the rescuers have been able to reach some 700 feet," he said.

He said that since they were trapped for more than five hours, the chances of their survival were bleak. The trapped workers belonged to Swat.

Some reports suggested that the mining activity was being carried out in the area without a lawful permission.

However, Rehman said it would be probed afterwards. "At the moment our foremost concern is to recover them," he said.

Coal mining is considered much more hazardous than hard rock mining due to flat-lying rock strata, generally incompetent rock, leakage or explosion of poisonous gases and coal dust, collapsing of mine stopes or general mechanical errors from improper use and malfunctioning of mining equipment.