Accidental blast: Four die defusing explosives at Rohri factory

Fatalities include an explosives expert, a Rangers trooper and a police constable

KARACHI: At least four men were killed and nearly a dozen wounded while trying to deactivate a dump of explosives near a cement factory on Tuesday. The fatalities include a police constable, a Rangers trooper, and an explosives expert.

The Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS), police, and Rangers were deactivating around 2,000 kilograms of explosive material when it detonated accidentally, according to the police. The explosives had been dumped by the previous management of Rohri Cement Factory outside the facility.



“The explosive material was meant to blast large stones at a nearby quarry,” a senior official at DIG Sukkur office said. “The present management had requested the police and Rangers to deactivate the explosives.”

He confirmed the explosives were triggered when BDS, Rangers and police were trying to deactivate it.

He identified the deceased as Allah Dino, Rangers trooper; Shahid Mughal, BDS member; Saleem Raza Bhutto, police constable; and Wajid Ansari, an employee of the factory.

The injured were driven to hospitals in Sukkur and Rohri where one of them, identified as member of the BDS, was said to be in a critical condition.

Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah directed the provincial police chief to investigate the incident and submit a report at the earliest.



He raised a slew of questions about the incident: Why was the explosive material dumped near the factory? Was the factory management authorised to procure and dump explosives in such a quantity? If they are authorised, are they not required to have a storage facility for the purpose?

“The inquiry should answer all the questions I’ve raised,” the chief minister said. “I’d also like to know if the BDS members were properly trained to deactivate such explosive material.”

He also directed his Principal Secretary Sohail Rajput to coordinate with the Sukkur administration and provide them his helicopter and arrange air ambulance if the injured needed to be airlifted to Karachi.

Shah also offered condolences to the bereaved families and assured them of his administration’s support.