Afghanistan Mine Collapse Kills at Least 27

KABUL—A mine collapse in northern Afghanistan left at least 27 people dead and injured many others, officials said Sunday, dealing a major setback to an industry that has been touted as the best hope for bringing new wealth to this impoverished country.

Afghan officials said a tunnel collapse Saturday afternoon in a state-run coal mine in the northern province of Samangan trapped nearly 60 people. Efforts to rescue the trapped miners continued overnight, and officials said around 20 people who were injured in the incident were still receiving medical treatment.

Mohammad Rafi Sediqi, a spokesman for Afghanistan's Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, said rescue operations were drawing to a close Sunday afternoon.

Mr. Sediqi said that authorities are investigating whether a group of Taliban insurgents—whom locals reported as being in the vicinity of the location of the mine—played any role in the incident.

"It's not clear at this time," Mr. Sediqi said. "We are working on it."

In a statement, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he was saddened by the loss of life, and expressed condolences to the families of the victims. He urged the ministry to take steps to prevent such incidents from happening in the future.

Safety and security worries are just one of the obstacles confronting the mining industry in Afghanistan, a country known to have rich deposits of copper, iron ore, gas, gold and oil.

The sector has been touted as the best promise for Afghanistan to eventually become financially self-sufficient, with some estimates putting the value of the country's underground wealth at around $1 trillion.

Earlier this year, Afghan Minister of Mines Wahidullah Shahrani said that revenues from mineral and oil deposits could furnish as much as 45% of the country's gross domestic product over the next decade.

But years of war, concerns over rule of law, and uncertainty over the future of Afghanistan as the U.S.-led military coalition prepares to leave have discouraged investors. Revenue has been slow to materialize.

For example, security concerns, archaeological discoveries, and disagreements with the government over a railway project stalled work at Mes Aynak, a major copper mining site awarded to a Chinese consortium.

Separately, Afghan officials Sunday raised the death toll from an insurgent assault on the U.S. consulate Friday in Herat, a city in western Afghanistan not far from the Iranian border.

Janan Mosazai, spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Sunday the attack killed a total of eight Afghans and injured 20 others, mostly civilians. Afghan officials said Friday that only one consulate guard had been killed, but The Wall Street Journal was able to confirm the deaths of three guards whose bodies had been taken to a local hospital.