Boiler explosion: Death toll rises to four

Inquiry by EPA concludes that incident occurred 'due to a thermo oil heater being operated with manually fed fuel.'

FAISALABAD: Two workers injured in the boiler explosion at Dawood Export Mills two days ago died at a hospital in Faisalabad on Sunday, raising the death toll to four. A police spokesman said Ghulam Rasool and Sharafat Ali, residents of Chak 225-RB Malkhanwala, succumbed to their injuries at Allied Hospital, Faisalabad. Two other workers, Zahoor Ahmad, a resident of Samana Chak, and Sohail Ali, a resident of Mansoorabad, were killed in the explosion. The police spokesman said a case had been registered against the mill owners and administration on a complaint by Assistant Sub-Inspector Inayatullah. An inquiry by the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) had concluded that the incident occurred “due to a thermo oil heater being operated with manually fed fuel.” The report said that the EPA team had sealed a boiler and two thermo oil heaters at the factory. Nishatabad police had arrested boiler engineer Muhammad Sajjad and Amjad Hussain, the general manager of the mill.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 30^th, 2013.