Sabotage: Gas pipeline blown up, towns cut off

Four blasts have been carried out at the same location since 2003.

SUKKUR: A gas pipeline blew up in a huge explosion on Thursday morning, cutting off towns in both Sindh and Balochistan.

The main line, which supplies gas from Sui to other cities and towns, exploded at around 4:30 am near Hajano village within the jurisdiction of Tangwani police station at the border. A group of unidentified men had allegedly planted explosives.

The police and Rangers reached the site and cordoned it  as the supply from Sui was stopped to avert any more disasters. The Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) reached from Larkana. Sources said that the explosion may have been caused by a landmine attached to the pipeline. Another landmine was also found near the blast site but it was defused.

According to officials of the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), this act of insurgency occurred at 6 am about 34 kilometres downstream from the south of the Sui gas field. An 18-inch diameter of the pipeline was damaged.

The incident was caused by an explosive device, which caused a six-foot-deep trough and ruptured nearly 40 feet of the pipeline in a tract of wet muddy land. The pipeline carries 110 million cubic feet (mmcfd) of gas every day from the Sui gas field to SSGC’s pipeline system in Shikarpur, from where it is transmitted to Balochistan.

An emergency response team also rushed to the site from Shikarpur. SSGC is managing an uninterrupted gas supply to Balochistan but a shortage of about 30 mmcfd of gas is expected because of the explosion.

The supply to Balochistan will be cut for all customers, except domestic users, for two to three days. The same pipeline was damaged in a similar blast near Jaffarabad on January 13. Since 2003, four explosions have occurred in the Tangwani area.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 21^st, 2011.