Gas leakage: Seven injured in cylinder blast

RAWALPINDI:

A gas leakage blast at a wedding ceremony injured seven people in Gulshan-e-Shimal near Adiala Road on Tuesday. 

Rescue officials say gas leaking from a five-kilogramme cylinder erupted into a fire when someone struck a match.



Muhammad Ibrahim, a local, said he heard a blast and saw smoke billowing out of the house. “When I reached the site, people were shifting the injured into a van,” he said, adding that all of the injured suffered burn wounds on their bodies.

The incident took place during the ‘rukhsati’ ceremony, however, the bride remained unharmed.

Rescue officials said they received some of the patients on the way to hospital and shifted them to ambulances from carry-vans.

They said the victims included three men and four teenage girls. Of the girls, three received over 70 per cent burn injuries while one suffered 60 per cent burns.

Officials at the Holy Family Hospital said the injured were in critical condition and being treated in the surgical ward.

Residents of the area are forced to buy gas in portable cylinders due to the frequent gas load-shedding, said locals, adding that substandard cylinders and the illegal trade of LPG is also one of the causes behind such incidents.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 15^th, 2014.