KARAK: Eleven people, including women and children, sustained critical burn injuries due to an explosion caused by gas leak in Dewgara area of Karak tehsil here on Wednesday.

The injured were shifted to the district headquarters hospital, Karak. Police said that the blast occurred when wife of Imran Hussain lit the stove to make tea for guests on Tuesday night.

They said the room was already filled with gas. They said four women, five children and two men were injured and that roof of the room also collapsed by the impact of the blast.

The local people and personnel of Rescue 1122 reached the spot and retrieved the injured people from the rubble and shifted them to hospital. Doctors stated that four of the injured had been referred to Khalifa Gul Nawaz Hospital in Bannu because of their critical condition.

One of the injured persons, Rehman Gul, a mason at Khushal Khan Khattak University Karak, was shifted to a hospital in Peshawar due to his precarious condition.

It was the third incident of its kind in last three weeks.

Meanwhile, a man allegedly shot dead his sister-in-law in Kach Banda area on the outskirts of the Karak city on Wednesday.

Police said that the suspect, a resident of Lakki Marwat district, opened fire on his sister-in-law over some domestic issue.

The relatives of the slain woman registered FIR in the Karak police station. The victim’s family hailing from Lakki Marwat was living in Karak.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2020