February 03, 2009	Tuesday	Safar 07, 1430

KARACHI, Feb 2: A 41-year-old salesman at an electric and hardware shop was killed and another wounded on Monday in a gas explosion in Shah Rasool Colony in Clifton, witnesses and police said.

The witnesses said that the explosion, caused by a natural gas leak, ripped through a storeroom of the shop situated at house No 32, Gali No 20, at around 9.30am, killing Mohammed Hussain, son of Allah Bux, instantly and injuring Mohammed Nadim, 30. They said the victims had gone to the storeroom to move some goods from there and an explosion occurred when one of them lit a matchstick to make their way in the dark room.

The witnesses said that the blast triggered a fire and the victims received burns, one of them fatal ones.

Panic and tension gripped the locality as the residents as far away as half a mile heard the explosion.

The Boat Basin police reached the spot and cordoned off the area as hundreds of resident gathered to see what had happened.

The body and the wounded man were shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre where sources said that the deceased had over 90 per cent burns.

They said that the wounded man was in a stable condition and he was discharged from the hospital after treatment.

Both the deceased and the injured, who hailed from Punjab, were stated to be relatives of the shop owner, and resident of the same locality.

The police said that the storeroom was filled with gas as there was no ventilation in it.

The Boat Basin police registered a case (FIR 29/9) under Section 319 of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of the wounded man.

They said that no one was named in the FIR, but the police were investigating the matter to fix the responsibility.