Quetta : The death toll from the methane gas explosion at a coal mine in the Sorange area of Pakistan's Balochistan has climbed to 34 while rescue operations are still underway to recover the remaining miners trapped under the debris, local media reported citing the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) on Friday.

So far, bodies of 34 miners have been recovered after Thursday's explosion as methane gas accumulated in the mine. A large section of the mine collapsed following the blast, resulting in miners remaining trapped under the rubble, leading Pakistani daily 'The Express Tribune' reported.

The officials said that 41 miners were in the mine when the incident took place. Teams from the mines department, rescue services and the district administration have been conducting rescue operations to recover the remaining miners.

Chief Inspector of Mines Muhammad Atif was quoted by Dawn as saying that the blast was believed to have occurred due to the accumulation of methane gas at a depth of around 4000 feet, causing a fire and gathering of hazardous gases in the mine. He stated that the majority of coal mine explosions in Balochistan took place due to the presence of methane gas.

In May, two miners were killed and another injured in two separate coal mine incidents in Shangla district of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The first incident took place at Akhorwal coal mines with two workers being buried under debris during operations. Rescue teams, fellow miners and local residents retrieved the trapped workers after carrying out a rescue operation for nearly two and a half hours, The Express Tribune had reported.

In a separate incident, a miner had died while working in a coal mine in the Chaparmashti area. Local residents and labour organisations have voiced serious concern over the lack of safety measures in Pakistan's coal mines and called on the government and authorities to take notice of the issue.