| Experts have in the last two months been able to extinguish 40 percent of an underground coal fire that has been burning in northern Afghanistan for more than a decade, the mining ministry said Monday. An operation to put out the fire in the Dara-i-Suf coal mine was launched in early July and mainly involved sealing vents that supply oxygen to the fire, ministry spokesman Khoghman Ulumi told AFP. The fire erupted due to natural accidents had devoured “tens of tons” of coal in the past 10 years, Ulumi added. “Efforts are under way to control the fire in the mine,” he said. After decades of wars and internal conflict, Afghanistan is trying to revive its rich mining industry. Estimates of the country’s coal reserves range from 73 million tons to 400 million tons. |