Twelve miners were trapped on Thursday after an explosion caused a coal mine outside of Quetta to collapse, authorities said.

Speaking to Dawn.com, Chief Mines Officer Abdul Ghani Baloch said that a gas explosion caused a coal mine in the Sanjdi area to collapse from the inside. “An operation has been launched to extract the miners. Efforts are being made to pull all the miners out alive,” he said.

After three hours, Baloch provided an update to Dawn.com stating that no miner had been pulled out, but efforts to extricate them were ongoing.

Meanwhile, in an official statement, Balochistan government spokesperson Shahid Rind acknowledged the collapse and said that rescue teams had arrived at the site.

“There are reports of twelve workers being trapped in the mine,” Rind added.

Balochistan Minister for Mining and Minerals Mir Shoaib Noshirwani ordered Chief Mines Officer Baloch to send two more teams to participate in rescue operations.

“If prevailing mining procedures were violated, legal action should be taken against the mine owner,” Noshirwani warned, ordering rescuers to expedite efforts to extract the trapped miners.

“The strict implementation of safety measures in mines should be ensured to protect workers,” he added.

Accidents are common in coal mines of the country, mainly due to gas build-ups.

Mine workers have complained that a lack of safety gear and poor working conditions are the key causes of frequent accidents, labour union officials have in the past.

In June last year, at least 11 people died after inhaling methane gas inside a coal mine in the Sanjdi area, some 50 kilometres from Quetta. The victims included nine coal miners, a coal company manager and a contractor.

“The coal miners were working around 1,500 feet deep in the mine when the gas eruption started and quickly spread to the place. All the coal miners fell unconscious,” Abdul Ghani Shahwani, Chief Inspector of Mines in Balochistan, told Dawn.

The next day, the mine owner was booked for alleged negligence. The case registered on the complaint of the Balochistan government also booked officials over their failure to ensure the miner’s compliance with safety standards.

With input from Reuters.