LAHORE: A female student of a private university who had been shifted to the Jinnah Hospital with 90 per cent burns she suffered in a gas cylinder blast on Monday, succumbed to her wounds on Tuesday.

University of Lahore student Zimal Sheikh (18), a resident of Sheikhupura, was among the five other varsity students injured in the incident and was under treatment at the burns unit of the hospital.

Her parents, relatives and friends were devastated by her sudden death when they received her body at the hospital.

The duty doctors had declared three of the injured students critical.

Eight people, including a young man and five female students, were buying potato fries from a vendor outside the varsity’s main gate on Monday when the cylinder exploded.

The five injured girls were enrolled in Doctor of Physiotherapy programme at the private university.

Police and Rescue 1122 ambulances, while responding to an emergency call, had shifted six of the injured persons to the Jinnah Hospital.

Senior medic Dr Mohammad Younis confirmed the death of Zimal saying her face and other parts of the body had been badly damaged probably for being close to the cylinder that exploded after caching fire.

He said two other students – Maham Riaz (19) and Tayyaba Aslam (20) – suffered 60pc and 45pc deep burns, respectively.

Another student, Momina Aslam, was getting treatment for her 25pc burns, he said, adding the young man, Malik Naimat, who suffered 12pc burns, had been discharged after initial treatment.

Dr Younis said more than 80pc of the patients brought to the Jinnah Hospital’s burns unit were those who suffered burns in cylinder blasts either occurring in their homes or workplaces.

He lamented that the schoolchildren and students of public as well as private higher education institutions were particularly vulnerable to such accidents because of use of substandard gas cylinders by the shopkeepers and canteen contractors.

He said street children were also prone to such incidents because of lack of care.

He said the Jinnah Hospital was housing the largest burns unit with a 24-bed indoor ward and 10-bed intensive care unit, besides private rooms for the patients.

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2019