LAHORE, Oct 16: At least five people were injured and over three dozen fainted when an ammonia cylinder got leaked after a minor blast in Kot Lakhpat here on Monday evening.

The gas that started leaking from the valve of a large cylinder in a cold storage in the Kot Lakhpat fruit market affected workers of the facility, visitors, passers-by and residents of adjacent houses.

All those injured worked in the cold storage and one of them, identified as Aseekat Bibi, was critical.

Those fainted included Sarwar, Sarfraz, Shahid, Rizwan, Irfan, Shakeel, Akram, Qaiser, Saif, Goga, Aslam, Imran, Iffat Bibi, Arbat, Qurban, Naseem, Shazia, Nusrat, Nazia and Waqar.

The locals and visitors called out Rescue 1122, other emergency services and police after failing to carry out rescue work on their own.

Rescue 1122, Edhi workers and ambulances from the Lahore General Hospital rushed to the spot and provided first aid to those fainted. They also broke open the doors of houses and gave medical aid to those fainted. About 40 officials of Rescue 1122 along with seven ambulances and two rescue vehicles took part in the operation.

The injured and fainted were shifted to the General and Ittefaq hospitals.

DCO Mian Ejaz, Gulberg Town Nazim Faraz Chaudhry and other officials also came to the spot.

On the occasion, Faraz Chaudhry said that people had set up cold storages in the market in violation of all building laws.

He said this was done after the LDA handed over fruit market buildings and shops to market committees.

Model Town SP Imran Ahmed said the cold storage belonged to Mian Bashir and Mian Jameel. He said the police and Rescue 1122 responded immediately after the incident.

They took the people out from the storage and adjacent localities and shifted them to hospitals.

He said the cylinder’s valve was temporarily closed with a polythene bag as there was no tools available at the storage to plug it.

Meanwhile, a press release of the Lahore General Hospital said that as many as 19 gas affectees were brought to the emergency ward.