8 miners feared dead due to flooding in coal mine in Pak's Sindh province

Eight coal miners are feared dead after the mine was flooded with rainwater in Pakistan's Sindh province, officials said Wednesday.

The miners were trapped in the coal mine in Jhimpir area of Thatta city on Tuesday night after it was flooded with rainwater.

A local administration official said rescue operations are underway but the miners are feared to have died.

Thatta Deputy Commissioner Ghazanfar Qadri said a number of pumping machines are being used to drain out the water, however, till Wednesday evening there was still around 11 ft deep water in the mine.

"There were around 35 miners working inside the coal mine when the heavy rains started and water started entering the mine although we had issued an advisory to close down operations until the rains were over," he said.

Qadri said most of the workers escaped before the flooding but eight of them couldn't get out.

He said all the miners were from Swat district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The mine is leased to a private company.