Workplace accident: One dead, 5 hurt in boiler blast

Police say excessive pressure may have caused the blast

LAHORE: A worker died and five others including the owner of a dry cleaning unit were injured as the roof of the facility caved in following a gas boiler blast.

Police said it appeared that excessive gas pressure in the boiler caused the blast at dry cleaning unit near Girja Chowk in Township. Consequently, they said the roof of the unit collapsed and all six people present there were caught under the rubble.

They said Ilyas alias Raju, 14, a Peco Road resident, died on the spot. The others were shifted to Jinnah Hospital by some neighbours and a police team were Kashif, the owner, and Humayun, Ahmad, Shahid and Majid.

Police said glass panels of windows in the neighbouring houses were damaged from the impact of the blast. “We had rushed to the spot believing that it was some terrorist activity,” a police official said.

Rescue 1122 Public Relations Officer Jam Sajjad Hussain said the injured had been shifted to the hospital by a Rescue team. “The incident was reported to us after at least an hour’s delay,” he said. He said they had received the first call at around noon.

He said a rescue team stationed at Jinnah Hospital had reported that two of the injured were in a critical condition.

Later, the body of the deceased was handed over to his family.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 26^th, 2015.