RAHIM YAR KHAN: Sixteen students of Khwaja Fareed University of Engineering and Information Technology (KFUEIT) were injured after an apparatus blast in the lab.

The incident occurred in the laboratory of the varsity’s Chemical Engineering Department on June 12.

Sources in the KFUEIT told this correspondent that a group of 22 students of BS chemistry’s fourth semester was performing an experiment in the lab without following the Standard Operating Procedures.

They said the students were performing experiments without fulfilling necessary requirements and suddenly a blast occurred which affected 16 students, they said.

The sources said the incident took place at a time when teams of the Pakistan Engineering Council were visiting the university for its accreditation.

When the matter came to the knowledge of the university administration, it tried to hush it up and did not inform Rescue 1122 to shift the students to Shaikh Zayed Medical College Hospital emergency.

KFUEIT Director Media Relations Shahid Khan Durrani said a small lab incident occurred in Biochemistry Lab of Department of Chemistry due to human error when a student mixed excluded chemical causing unwanted reaction in 100ml beaker. Three students got minor chemical splashes and were provided first-aid by the medical centre on the campus.

The students were then shifted by the university ambulance to Shaikh Zayed Hospital for further checkup which was declared satisfactory by staff concerned, he claimed.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2019