October 07, 2008	Tuesday	Shawwal 7, 1429

PESHAWAR, Oct 6: The CNG cylinder of a car burst at a filling station near the Peshawar Bus Terminal on Monday, killing two people and injuring four others.

Operators of the filling station said a woman and a 14-year-old boy, who were in the car, died in the explosion.

One piece of the cylinder hit the building of the filling station. The counter, windowpanes, gate and roof of the station were damaged.

Those killed were identified as Pervez Musharraf and Shumaila of Chari Kochwan Kabuli.

The injured included Shakeel, a child, Saeed Singh, and two employees of the station, Sajid and Amanullah. They were taken to the Lady Reading Hospital.

The owner of the station, Sultan Gul, said the blast caused a loss of millions of rupees to him, saying the incident had occurred due to substandard CNG kit.

CNG Association of Pakistan vice-chairman Ghiyas Paracha, when contacted, told Dawn that it was the sixth incident of its kind in the city and blamed officials concerned for not checking the standard of gas cylinders.

For saving a few thousand rupees, he said, people were purchasing substandard welded gas tanks from people in the Karkhano Market, who were not registered with the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority.

He pointed out that cylinders being used in CNG rickshaws, even those introduced under the President Rozgar Scheme, were substandard and could burst anytime.

He called upon the government to take action against those selling low-quality gas cylinders.