July 29, 2008	Tuesday	Rajab 25, 1429

FAISALABAD, July 28: Three members of a family were killed and nine others, including three children, were injured when two houses collapsed after a fireworks blast in Allama Iqbal Colony on Samundri Road here on Monday.

Habib Ahmed used to manufacture fireworks at his home. On Monday, suddenly a stockpile of manufactured fireworks exploded, razing Habib and his neighbour Nawaz's house and burying at least a dozen people, including women and children, under the debris. The blast also damaged two other houses.

Locals and Rescue 1122 staffers rushed to the scene and retrieved the body of Muhammad Saeed and his two-year-old niece Dua from the rubble. Another girl Mehra succumbed to her wounds at a hospital.

The injured including Farida, Shabana, Amin, Naeem, Rafiq and Zafar and three children Hassan, Ali Hamza and Mohammad Rizwan were shifted to Allied and DHQ Hospitals where they were in a stable condition.

Saeed was a resident of Karachi and had arrived here to see his brother Habib.

Locals told reporters that leakage from a gas pipeline of the damaged houses hindered rescue work and the gas department officials did not reach there despite they were called repeatedly.

They also said that an explosion in a gas generator had caused the blast.

Demo: Doctors of Allied and District Headquarters (DHQ) hospitals staged a protest demonstration on Monday to press the government for increasing their pay scales.

Doctors closed the outdoor patient departments (OPDs) of both hospitals for two hours in protest what they said against the lethargic behaviour of the government for not enhancing their salaries.