KARACHI: Rescue work at the Dudder lead and zinc mine in Lasbela district remains suspended as the rescue team is waiting for a pumping machine to arrive from China, officials said on Thursday.

According to the chief inspector of mines, Iftikhar Ahmad Khan, the machine to be used for pumping out water from the shaft was supposed to reach Lasbela on Tuesday.

“It takes time for heavy machinery to reach Balochistan. As soon as the pumping machine is available to the rescue team, the suspended rescue work will restart,” he said.

Three miners — two Chinese engineers and a Pakistani electrician — trapped in the 1,000-metre-deep mine are believed to have died by now.

On Sept 24, rope of a makeshift lift carrying five workers fell into the mine. Four of the workers managed to get out of the shaft through ladders.

Upon realising that one of the electricians, Mohammad Anwar, was missing, two Chinese engineers went back into the shaft to look for him. Though they had taken the basic safety equipment and food with them, contact with them was soon lost.

According to Mr Khan, voices could be heard from inside the shaft till Sept 25.

On Sept 26, senior officials of the MNC Huaye Dudder Mining Company and a rescue team reached the mine from the company’s headquarters in Beijing. Its president, Kong Fuian, had arrived earlier to supervise the rescue operations at the site.

Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2016