Terrible: Man dies, two injured in cylinder blast

People in the area had initially thought it was a terrorist attack

LAHORE: A man died and two others were injured in a cylinder explosion in a Sundar police precinct on Thursday.

Police said the victims were taking a nap in an eatery near Loharan Wala Khooh when a cylinder inside the eatery suddenly exploded. Within minutes, the entire construction went up in flames. Police said that the victims were stranded inside.

Scores of people in the area gathered around the eatery. They had initially thought it a terrorist attack. They called up Rescue-1122. A team arrived and took the injured men to a hospital. Doctors there pronounced Arshad, 25, dead. Wahid and Wajid, the other two victims, are being treated.

Hassan, a worker at a nearby shop, said he was busy in his work when he heard a loud bang. He ran to the shop the blast had occurred and saw thick smoke billowing out of it and flames coming out of the building. He said everyone had initially thought it was a terrorist attack.

He said people in the area had tried to rescue those inside and put out the fire before the Rescue-1122 team had arrived. The fire-fighters arrived and extinguished the fire. They took the body to a morgue for autopsy.

Police said that the victim was a daily-wage labourer who lived in a nearby village.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24^th, 2016.