False alarm: Cylinder explosion sparks panic in Chak Town

SUKKUR:

Chak Town in Shikarpur district was gripped by panic and tension on Muharam 10, when a wagon's CNG cylinder exploded, causing other vehicles and a nearby house to catch fire on the route of the Muharram procession.

The procession was passing through Chak Town and when it reached the Town Committee Muhalla, a CNG cylinder exploded, which caused a stampede among the mourners. The vehicle immediately caught fire after the explosion, which engulfed three more vehicles parked near it and a portion of a house, in whose compound the vehicles were parked.

On realising that the explosion was not the result of a bomb, the mourners rushed back to the scene and began a two-hour long battle to put out the flames. The fire tender, despite being informed, reached the site after the people had already put out the fire. The house and vehicles have been said to belong to Syed Abdul Jabbar Shah and Zameer Shah. The head constable of the Chak police station, Mukhtiar Mirjat, claimed that the mourners were cooking food near the vehicles and a spark from a fire pit might have resulted in the explosion. No casualties were reported.

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