MULTAN: Three people died and 27 others were injured in a blast allegedly caused by gas leakage at the Gulshan Market here on Monday.

The blast occurred in a three-storey commercial building in Gulshan Market of Shah Rukn-i-Alam Town.

The basement of the building was being used as a cold store, while the upper floors were occupied by a restaurant.

Initially, it was assumed to be a cylinder blast, but according to sources, the investigators of police, the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) and the bomb disposal squad who examined the site did not find any pieces of cylinder.

Later, during a thorough search of the site gas leakage was detected in the cold store.

Umair Shah, the son of restaurant owner Makhan Shah, a worker, Muhammad Furqan and an unidentified man died on the spot, while 27 others were injured in the incident. They were shifted to the Nishtar Hospital’s burn unit, where six of them were said to be critical.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who visited the blast site, told the media that the restaurant owner had recently announced support for him. He said he had taken up the matter with the city police officer who told him that investigations were under way.

“I would not level any allegation against anyone until the investigations are completed,” he said.

He said a PTI office was attacked on Sunday night which was actually a life attempt on a union council chairman. He said the party workers were furious but he calmed them. The police arrested two suspects, he added.

The PML-N and PTI candidates for NA-155, Shaikh Tariq Rasheed and Malik Amir Dogar, respectively, also visited the site.

The district police officer confirmed that as per initial probe the blast was caused by gas leakage.

Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2018