All Stranded Workers At Samangan Coal Mine Rescued, Says Taliban

Esmatullah Muradi, the spokesman for the Taliban governor in Samangan, without providing specific figures, said that "all" workers trapped in a coal mine in Samangan were rescued.

Earlier, local sources had put the number of stranded workers at 35.

Bakhtar News Agency quoted Muradi, as saying that rescue groups helped the stranded workers.

The collapse of a coal mine occurred on Saturday evening, December 14, in the Sefid Khak area of the village of Goleh in the Dari Suf Payin Valley.

Earlier, local sources had said that rescue teams were dispatched to the site to pull the workers out of the mine.

The Taliban-controlled Bakhtar News Agency wrote that the mine collapsed while workers were working inside it.

Although some sources put the number of stranded people at 35 and some more than 40, the Taliban has so far refused to provide specific statistics on the stranded workers.