Strong earthquake in southwest Pakistan kills at least 23 people | News

QUETTA, Pakistan – A powerful earthquake collapsed at least one coal mine and dozens of mud houses in southwest Pakistan early Thursday morning, killing at least 23 people as the death toll continued to rise. An official said at least 200 other people were injured.

Sohail Anwar Shaheen, the local deputy commissioner, said the death toll was expected to rise further as crews searched in the remote mountainous area.

Citing coal miners in the area, Shaheen said at least four people were killed when the coal mine they were working in collapsed. As many as 100 homes also collapsed, burying the sleeping residents inside.

Wali Muhammad, a relative, said that in one case, a mother died with her two young sons when their house collapsed.

Nearby, the body of an 8-year-old girl was found in the rubble of her home.

The US Geological Survey reported that the epicenter of the 5.9-magnitude quake was 9 miles north-northeast of Harnai in Balochistan province. The initial measurement of the earthquake’s strength was 5.7. It struck about 5.5 miles below the Earth’s surface. Surface earthquakes tend to cause more damage.

The area, about 60 miles from Quetta, the provincial capital, is littered with coal mines, which has Shaheen worried that the death toll could rise. He said the explosion occurred in the early morning while dozens of miners were already working.

The Pakistani army deployed in the quake zone to airlift dozens of wounded people from the mountain tops. At least nine seriously injured people were taken to the district hospital in Quetta. An army statement said search and rescue teams had reached the mountains.

Concern is growing about dozens of coal miners who may be trapped. The houses are located in mounds of mud and straw. Residents of small mountain villages were seen wandering through the rubble, stunned.

“Women and children and everyone else were running here and there,” said resident Ghulam Khan. “We were afraid and didn’t know what to do.”

Soon, ambulances arrived to take the injured to Harnai Hospital.

Doctors treated patients outside the hospital, as aftershocks of a magnitude of 4.6 continued into the morning hours. Stretchers placed blood-stained bandages outside the hospital, while ambulances transported more wounded.

“So far we have treated more than 200 wounded people,” said Mansour Ahmed, medical supervisor at Harnai District Hospital. He said the small rural establishment had been taxed to the max. Up to 15 bodies were brought there.

Early on Thursday afternoon, funerals were held in the small villages scattered over the mountainside.

Most of the area’s residents live in sun-drenched mud houses, many of which have collapsed. Rescue efforts are underway, but Shaheen said it will only take hours to reach many of the hardest-hit areas.

Eyewitnesses in the area said residents were wrapped in blankets from the cold and sat on the side of the road waiting for the aftershocks to subside and for help to arrive.

The area is remote and autumn night temperatures are really cool.

The southwestern province of Balochistan is located in a seismically active region, according to the provincial disaster management authority. The worst earthquake in 1935 devastated the provincial capital of Balochistan and killed more than 35,000 people. Since then, dozens of earthquakes have rocked the province, the least populated in Pakistan, which has a population of only 12 million.

Pakistan has a population of 220 million, 60 percent of whom live in the eastern province of Punjab.

Gannon reported from Islamabad.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.

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