15 killed in cylinder blast

FAISALABAD—The death toll in cylinder explosion incident here on Chak Jhumra road near United Ghee Mills has climbed to 15. The operation to pull out the people from the wreckage was underway. . The majority of victims hail from labor class; therefore, the administration is facing difficulties to ascertain their identification. Shakoor Muhammad, Mazhar Hussain and Sohail are among those who have been killed in the incident. The injured include Sabir, Saleem, Javed, Naseer Ahmad, Humayun, Jamil, Sufian, Mazhar Iqbal and others.
During rescue operation another cylinder exploded leaving 5 workers of Rescue-122 injured. Cylinder exploded with a big bang. It reduced a 3-storey building and some other buildings to debris. The major cause leading to this incident was that certain dealers were doing business in LPG and Ammonia gas cylinder in the garb of oxygen gas cylinder supply business. They had made no precautionary measures. The owner of the shop wherein the incident took place had made good escape from the scene.
According to Rescue-1122, the roof of a godown (made of T-iron) and an adjacent double-storey building (with RBC roof) collapsed in the powerful explosion. The godown stored Oxygen gas cylinders on the Kashmir road in close vicinity of Kashmir chowk, chak Jhumra road. Rescue-1122 men rushed to the spot and have pulled out 12 bodies from debris, in addition to shifting 25 injured to the Allied Hospital here.
City District Government (CDG) provided cranes and other mechanized vehicles to remove the debris.City district nazim Rana Zahid Tauseef and former federal minister Mushtaq Ali Cheema visited the site.—Agencies