Gas explosion death toll rises to five

The death toll from Thursday 's gas leak explosion in Pindigheb rose to five on Saturday after another critically injured victim succumbed to burn injuries during treatment.

According to sources, 25-year-old Muhammad Dilawar, a resident of Mohalla Owaisia Town, who had sustained severe burns in the blast, died while undergoing treatment at the burn centre of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Islamabad.

The tragic incident occurred late Friday night in a densely populated residential area near the old police chowki and close to the Fauji Foundation Hospital in Pindigheb, when a suspected gas leak in a private baithak (guest sitting room) triggered a powerful explosion. The blast caused the concrete roof of the room to collapse, trapping several youths beneath the rubble.

Four young men, 20-year-old Muhammad Shazal Rizvi, son of Dr Muhammad Rafiq Khalid, 20-year-old Muhammad Huzaifa Bhatti, son of Shaukat Mahmood Bhatti, 18-year-old Saifullah, son of Hafiz Shaukat Iqbal and Muhammad Zalid had previously been reported to have lost their lives in the incident and were laid to rest in their ancestral graveyard in Pindigheb in the presence of thousands of mourners after the funeral prayers.

Another young man, 20-year-old Arab, son of Asif Mahmood, who was also severely injured, remains under treatment at the PIMS Hospital Burns Centre after he was referred there from Rawalpindi where he was first taken for treatment. Both the injured had sustained third-degree burns.