On fire: 10 people injured in cylinder blast

A donkey cart, two rickshaws and four motorcycles parked outside the shop were also burnt in the fire

KARACHI: At least 10 people were injured while a donkey died when a gas cylinder exploded at a Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) shop in Gulshan-e-Iqbal on Sunday afternoon.

The explosion led to a fire at the shop which spread to a catering shop, Shan Pakwan, located next door. The owner of the LPG shop, Mansha, and nine others were injured and taken to a hospital nearby.



A donkey cart, two rickshaws and four motorcycles parked outside the shop were burnt in the fire, said the SHO of the Gulshan-e-Iqbal police station, Shabbir Ahmed. He added that the shop was being run illegally and they were investigating the case.

Officials from the fire brigade said that they had received information about the blast at 2:55pm and two of their fire tenders rushed to the spot located on plot no. 33 at Waqas Market in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Block-13D-2.

The fire brigade removed other cylinders from the shop and it took them one and a half hour to put out the fire out. The fire burnt the electricity cables and metres.

The SHO claimed that the shop was situated in a commercial area but was close to a residential area. “If the rest of the cylinders had not been removed by fire brigade in time then more explosions could have taken place,” said a spokesperson from the fire brigade.

He added that the shop was decanting LPG from one cylinder to another - which is prohibited under the rules defined by the Oil and Gas Regularity Authority.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 3^rd, 2014.