At least 34 miners were killed and eight others remained trapped after a coal mine explosion in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan Province, the country's disaster management authorities said on Friday.
The explosion occurred at around 16:00 local time on Thursday at a coal mine on the outskirts of Quetta, the provincial capital, where 42 miners were working underground.
Mining inspectors said the blast was caused by a buildup of methane gas.
Rescue operations were continuing under extremely difficult conditions, and officials warned that the death toll could rise.
Director General of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) Jehanzeb Khan Ghorezai said rescue efforts were being carried out by PDMA, the district administration and other relevant agencies.
According to the mine owner, all of the trapped miners were from Shangla district in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Balochistan's Minister of Finance and Mines and Mineral Development Shoaib Nosherwani said authorities would conduct a thorough investigation into the cause of the explosion and review safety measures at the mine.
Coal mine accidents are common in Balochistan, often due to inadequate safety measures and poor working conditions.
At least 34 miners killed in Pakistan coal mine explosion
The 2026 China Business Report, released on Thursday by the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai (AmCham Shanghai), revealed a significant rebound in business confidence among its surveyed member companies operating in China.
Business confidence bounced back markedly, as 58 percent of respondents expressed optimism about China's five-year business outlook, up 17 percentage points year on year, the report said.
Profitability rebounded to its highest level since 2019, with 78 percent of respondents profitable in 2025, an increase of 7 percentage points from the 2024 level, according to the report.
As business confidence rebounded and more companies reported profits, investment confidence in China also strengthened, resulting in 28 percent of respondents increasing investment in China last year, the highest level in four years.
Improved market sentiment is also reflected in a positive assessment of China's business environment. Fifty-five percent of surveyed companies said the business environment in China is transparent, up 7 percentage points year on year.
Jeffrey Lehman, chair of AmCham Shanghai, attributed the positive change to eased bilateral tensions and shared expectations for more stable and reciprocal economic and trade relationship, as the two leaders of states reaffirmed multiple times in the past year.
"We do our surveys In June, and so in June of 2025, there was a lot of anxiety among our members about the geopolitical situation. After that, we had the meeting of the leaders in Busan. We had the summit in Beijing in May, the agreement between the two countries that they would try to create a constructive relationship of strategic stability based on fairness and reciprocity. And that is very reassuring to our members because that suggests that there will be a stable environment in which they can operate well. If anxiety about geopolitics slips, that means then, that the number one concern is the continuing improvement in the quality of domestic competition," he said.
The report is based on AmCham Shanghai's 2026 China Business Survey of 262 member companies.
AmCham Shanghai report shows sharp rebound in business confidence among member companies
