LAHORE, Aug 30: Three people were injured and nine shops damaged due to a blast on Friday at the second floor of a three-storey plaza on Gulberg’s Main Boulevard.The loud explosion was heard in a radius of one kilometre, passersby said.

A bomb disposable squad, forensic experts and senior police officials visited the site. Some traders suspected that explosives were planted by militants and insisted on a thorough investigation, saying that as the plaza was owned by a senior police officer, anti-state elements might have targeted it. The police, however, ruled out terrorism calling it a ‘gas blast’.

The police inquiries said the incident took place an hour before the inauguration of a new restaurant constructed on the second floor of the ‘Mall 94’. The police said the huge blast had caused structural damage to nine shops in the plaza.

The roof of the second floor of the plaza and its boundary walls collapsed and the windowpanes of nearby buildings got shattered due to the impact of the blast.

Rescue 1122 officials said three people, including a security guard, suffered multiple injuries as shards hit them.

An official of the Rescue 1122 said the blast occurred in the kitchen of the restaurant and apparently it was a boiler blast.

Model Town Division SP (Operations) Tariq Aziz said gas leakage and accumulation at the blast site was the main cause of the incident.

“The blast had left a dangerous structural damage to the entire Mall 94”, the SP said adding that the centre of the blast was the restaurant,” he said.

When asked about the owner of the plaza, the SP expressed his ignorance.

Opinion

Editorial

System failure
Updated 12 Nov, 2024

System failure

Relevant institutions often treat right to internet connectivity with the same disdain as they do civil and political rights.
Narrowing the gap
12 Nov, 2024

Narrowing the gap

PERHAPS a pat on the back is in order for the ECP. Together with Nadra, it has made visible efforts to reduce...
Back on their feet
12 Nov, 2024

Back on their feet

A STIRRING comeback in the series has ended Pakistan’s 22-year wait for victory against world champions Australia....
Time to deliver
Updated 11 Nov, 2024

Time to deliver

Pakistan must display a serious commitment to climate change adaptation and mitigation at home.
Smaller government
11 Nov, 2024

Smaller government

THE IMF bailout programme has put the government under pressure to curtail its spending, especially current...
Unsafe inheritance
11 Nov, 2024

Unsafe inheritance

DESPITE regulations, the troubling practice of robbing women of their rightful inheritance — the culprits are ...