Twelve miners were killed and eight rescued after an explosion in a coal mine in south-western Pakistan, officials said.

“The rescue operation has been just completed”, said Balochistan province’s chief inspector of mines, Abdul Ghani Baloch, on Wednesday morning. He said that 20 miners had been inside the mine when a methane gas explosion took place overnight.

He added that rescue teams recovered 12 bodies while the survivors had been taken to hospital.