Three killed as cylinder blast turns house to rubble

Authorities say drive against LPG decanting shops planned

KARACHI:

A building housing at least four families was reduced to rubble due to explosion in the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) decanting shop on the ground floor. Three people were killed and 17 injured in the carnage in the impoverished Machar Colony neighbourhood of the Keamari district on Monday morning.

The bodies recovered from the debris were identified as Amin, Abdul Wahab, and a young girl, Ulfat, Abdul Hameed.

Some of the injured victims had suffered burn injuries too, rescue officials told the media. The intensity of explosion overturned the pickup carrying LPG cylinders and damage nearby buildings.

The boom was enough to send first responders, including Edhi, Chippa, police, Rangers and Rescue 1122 rushing to the spot located deep inside the narrow lanes of a densely populated neighbourhood.

Emergency response teams swiftly initiated relief efforts. Despite challenges posed by narrow streets, a dense population, and a large gathering of onlookers, rescuers worked alongside residents to extricate those trapped in the debris.

A significant crowd of locals amassed at the accident site, posing challenges for the rescue operations. As a result, the police had to employ baton charges to disperse onlookers and ensure unobstructed access for the ongoing rescue efforts.

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According to the area residents, the house belonged to a former councillor Noor Islam Haqqani. Besides Haqqani’s two married daughters and their kin, two more families lived in the building. On the ground floor of the house, a person named Saqaf Pathan had an LPG gas cylinder shop, they said.

The locals told the media that they had asked Haqqani time and again to close the LPG shop in the residential area, but he paid no heed and eventually, the sad incident occurred.

Keamari district police chief SSP Arif Aslam Rao attributed the incident to explosion of multiple LPG cylinders at once.

Counter-Terrorism Depart-ment In-charge Raja Umar Khatab was also present on the ground. Replying to the media queries, he ruled out the possibility of terrorism as per the available evidence.

DC Keamari Junaid Iqbal Khan oversaw relief activities, assuring the completion of debris removal and evacuation of neighbouring buildings. He highlighted actions taken against illegal LPG decanting shops. DC Khan agreed that the demand for LPG increases exponentially in wither due to absence of piped gas supply from the Sui Southern Gas Company network. The lack of gas supply in pipes forces people to use LPG cylinders and illegal decanting shops meet this demand, he said asserting that only licenced shops will be allowed to supply LPG cylinders.

Commander Urban Search and Rescue Muhammad Humayun Khan reported completing the search operation, with 20 people rescued from the debris. The nature of the explosion remains undetermined until further investigation after debris removal.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19^th, 2023.