April 11, 2008	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 4, 1429

LAHORE, April 10: Seven people were killed and over 12 others, including four female students, injured when a cylinder exploded in a scrap godown in Misri Shah on Thursday.

The blast occurred when two welders were cutting iron sheets with an instrument that was linked with two gas cylinders, an office-bearer of the merchant association told Dawn, adding that a gas leak might have caused the blast.

Khwaja Ejaz Rasool said that owner of the godown, Raja Saddique, had been injured and his son, Raja Aamir, and the two welders were killed in the incident.

The blast ripped apart the roof of two godowns and damaged walls of other warehouses within a radius of 100 metres.

There were speculations that the explosion had been caused by a locally-made bomb which the owner had purchased from a scrap-yard.

A police official claimed that traders at the Misri Shah iron market often purchased “inactive and defused bombs”. The process of cannibalising a defused bomb by gas welding plants carried the risk of an explosion.

Capital City Police Officer Malik Muhammad Iqbal said that police had not found any evidence of a bomb explosion.

He ruled out terrorism or sabotage, saying it was “just an accident”.

Rescue teams and Edhi volunteers said five bodies had been taken out from the wreckage.

As a portion of the godown caught fire, some of the injured brought to the Mayo Hospital had severe burn injuries.

With more than 4,000 godowns, Misri Shah iron market is said to be one of the biggest in Asia.

Central Iron Merchant Market vice-president Chaudhry Bashir said the incident took place due to a `technical fault’.

He said that a Fone gas cylinder, having 2,000-pound pressure, and an oxygen cylinder were used to cut sheets and there was a possibility that gas had leaked from the cylinder due to immense pressure.

Four students – Nafia, Sadia, Shakeela and Maryam – were passing through the area when the explosion took place. They were discharged from hospital after treatment.

The dead were identified as Raja Amir, Abdul Ghafoor, Rashid, Saleem, Rameez, Muhammad Sheerin and Usman. Names of the injured were Khalil, Illyas, Mian Sial, Fiaz, Usman, Shahid, Asgher, Hamayun, Shahzad, and Faisal.