Star Online Report
At
least three foreign workers were killed and 29 others including two
Bangladeshis injured in a coal mine explosion in eastern Malaysia on
Saturday.
The gas fire ignited at about 450m below the tunnel’s entrance of the coal mine located about 3km from the Kuching-Sri Aman main road at 8:45am Saturday when 119 miners were working there.
The deceased were identified as Tun Tun Win, 36, from Myanmar, North Korean Pang Chung-hyok, 29, and Indonesian Kardianto, 38, reports country’s English-language newspaper The Star.Sri Aman police chief DSP Mat Jusoh Mohammad said their bodies’ were taken to the Sri Aman hospital.
Apart from the two Bangladeshis, there are nine people from of Indonesia, six from Myanmar, five from China, and seven from North Korea.Four are being treated at Sri Aman Hospital and the rest are at the Sarawak General Hospital, the police officer said.
Sri Aman Fire and Rescue Department chief Ranger Moos said the department received a call at about 11:30am Saturday and immediately sent a fire truck with seven firemen to the scene.
“According to the supervisor, the blast occurred when the workers were just about to start work,” he said.“There was an explosion when a switch for the conveyor belt was turned on,” he said, adding that an extractor fan used for expelling gas out of the tunnel was not working.
Sparks from the switch or the defective fan are being looked at as the likely cause of the blast.The mine has been closed until the department’s hazardous materials (Hazmat) team arrives to determine the safety of the tunnel.
An injured miner being wheeled to the Sarawak General Hospital after the coal mine explosion on Saturday. Photo: The Star
The gas fire ignited at about 450m below the tunnel’s entrance of the coal mine located about 3km from the Kuching-Sri Aman main road at 8:45am Saturday when 119 miners were working there.
The deceased were identified as Tun Tun Win, 36, from Myanmar, North Korean Pang Chung-hyok, 29, and Indonesian Kardianto, 38, reports country’s English-language newspaper The Star.Sri Aman police chief DSP Mat Jusoh Mohammad said their bodies’ were taken to the Sri Aman hospital.
Apart from the two Bangladeshis, there are nine people from of Indonesia, six from Myanmar, five from China, and seven from North Korea.Four are being treated at Sri Aman Hospital and the rest are at the Sarawak General Hospital, the police officer said.
Sri Aman Fire and Rescue Department chief Ranger Moos said the department received a call at about 11:30am Saturday and immediately sent a fire truck with seven firemen to the scene.
“According to the supervisor, the blast occurred when the workers were just about to start work,” he said.“There was an explosion when a switch for the conveyor belt was turned on,” he said, adding that an extractor fan used for expelling gas out of the tunnel was not working.
Sparks from the switch or the defective fan are being looked at as the likely cause of the blast.The mine has been closed until the department’s hazardous materials (Hazmat) team arrives to determine the safety of the tunnel.
Published: 2:19 pm Sunday, November 23, 2014
Last modified: 8:12 pm Sunday, November 23, 2014
