RAWALPINDI, April 11: Three members of a family were badly burnt after a gas cylinder exploded at Qasimabad Mohallah in the jurisdiction of Waris Khan Police Station on Thursday night, police said.

Mirza Khan, 60, his son, Khan Afsar, 35, both cab drivers by profession, were present in their house when 18-year-old Fauzia Bibi tried to light a gas stove for cooking meal. As a result, the cylinder was blown off and fire erupted. The three persons were engulfed by the flames, and on hearing their screams, neighbours rushed to their rescue and extinguished the fire. The victims were shifted to the Rawalpindi General Hospital in critical condition. Mirza Khan told Dawn from the hospital bed that the cause of explosion was probably gas leakage.

According to doctors, “the patients brought by the police are more than 35 per cent burnt, and the hospital has no facility for patients having more than 25 per cent burns.”