Another cylinder explodes at refilling station

Two persons sustained serious burn injuries as a gas cylinder exploded while it was being refilled at a shop off Khanuana Road. The fire that the explosion ignited gutted the entire shop, and it soon spread to nearby shops.

The blaze also burnt a motorcycle and some other valuables. Rescue 1122 teams arrived at the spot, contained the fire and shifted the injured to the Civil Hospital.

Four people, including two siblings, had been killed and two others were seriously injured in two fire incidents in Lodhran in April this year.

Muhammad Irfan, 12, and Sameer, 16, died on the spot while Asif, 9, and Shahnawaz, 30, were injured when fire broke out at an LPG shop at the Super Milad Chowk.

Nine-year-old Asif had received up to 70% burn injuries.

Rescue 1122 team led by District Emergency Officer Syed Majid Shah had reached the spot and extinguished the fire after some hectic efforts.

The fire at the LPG shop was so severe that it engulfed five other shops. A car and a motorbike parked at a nearby shop were also gutted.

The second incident of fire had taken place in Hambalwala, a suburban village near Kahror Pakka, in which two daughters of Muhammad Ajmal, two-year-old Dua Fatima and four-year-old Sarah Bibi, died on the spot.

According to eyewitnesses, Muhammad Ajmal and his family had gone to the field to harvest wheat, leaving behind their daughters who had been asleep in the house when the fire broke out. Both children died on the spot.

Rescue teams rushed to the spot and extinguished the fire.

An atmosphere of mourning had descended over the district after the tragic incident.

The heirs of the late children were totally grief-stricken.

Meanwhile, taking note of the incident of the fire at the gas refilling station in Lodhran City, Deputy Commissioner Capt. Shoaib said that the owner of the LPG shop had already been arrested and a case registered against him.

In his absence, his brother had been running the business illegally who would also be prosecuted according to the law.

He said that the Civil Defence Department would take action against all such shops in the district and have them closed down immediately.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 10^th, 2022.