QUETTA - Armed men kidnapped eight coalminers in Sourang mining field, some 25 kilometres away from Quetta, on Saturday.According to President Balochistan Coalmine Union Bhakth Nawab, eight coalmine workers were asleep when armed men in two vehicles appeared on the site and bundled all workers into their vehicles and fled to an undisclosed location. He said coalminers were working in a private coalmine company.They were identified as Hameedullah, Abdul Hameed, Muhammad Ishaq, Faqir Khan, Muhammad Nawaz, Muhammad Akbar and Khan Muhammad. They are residents of Swat and Dir area of Kyber Pakhtunkwa. Bhakth Nawab has demanded immediate and safe recovery of kidnapped coalminers. The Balochistan Levies Force registered a case against the unidentified persons and started a search in the area to trace out the kidnappers.No one has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of coalminers. However, Levies officials suspected it could be a case of kidnapping for ransom.It may be mentioned here that Baloch armed groups had also kidnapped coalminers in recent past from the same coalmine field, besides threatening non-locals to avoid extracting resources of Balochistan. On Friday, Jamhoori Watan Party Chief Nawabzada Talal Akbar Bugti said that former Chief Minister Balochistan and sitting Federal Minister Jam Yousuf was not only nominated in Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti’s murder case but he was also responsible for forced disappearances of thousands of Baloch youth and alleged military action in Balochistan.Miner suffocated to death in Duki: A miner died due to toxic gas leakage in a coalmine in Duki tehsil of Loralai district on Saturday.According to officials, victim Muhammad Naseem was working at a coalmine when it filled with poisonous gas that resulted into his death.Rescue team rushed to the spot soon after the incident. They retrieved the body from coalmine and shifted it to the Civil Hospital. Later, the body was handed over to his relatives for burial.It may be mentioned here that dozens of coalminers have lost their lives in such incidents but the government seems inactive to minimise such accidents at the mines, owned by government and the private companies.