At least three people died and nine others were injured in a building collapse caused by a cylinder blast in Machar Colony of Karachi on Monday.
As rescuers arrived at the scene, they moved the dead and the injured to the hospital and feared more casualties. Near the blast scene, many gas cylinders were found here and there.
According to the Kemari SSP, the building was destroyed by a cylinder explosion that was reported to the Karachi Police. At the scene of the gas explosion, he claimed, there were Rangers and policemen.
The incident occurred in Machar Colony, Senior Superintendent of Police Arif Aslam Rao told the media. “Gas cylinders brought in a pickup van were being unloaded at a filing station inside a shop when a cylinder exploded, causing a chain reaction with other cylinders also detonating,” Rao said.
Such incidents are not uncommon in Karachi, the nation’s economic hub and home to about 20 million people, where a large number of petrol and gas filling stations have been set up in little stores in residential areas with no safety regulations in place.