LAHORE: As many as 12 members of two families, including nine children, suffered multiple burns after a fire erupted due to gas cylinder blast at their home near Babu Sabu Interchange here on Monday.

The injured were identified as Nazia (4), Ayesha (9), Nazo (5), Nazmeen (2), Hameeda (17), Malaika (2), Saif (3), Naseeb (4), Kismat (6), Naseema (5), Batasa (33) and Akhtar Bibi.

All the injured were rushed to the hospital where the condition of two of them was stated to be critical, according to the police.

The incident occurred when the ladies were cooking food and children were sitting around the stove after evening.

A police official said as soon as gas leakage started, it caught fire and the cylinder exploded with a bang.

Resultantly, the children and women got multiple burns, he said adding that no male member of the family was present in the house at that time. The neighbours rushed to the site and called Rescue 1122 which controlled the blaze.

They provided first aid to some of the injured children. Later, they shifted all of them to the hospitals with child Naseeb suffering from 40 per cent burns.

Meanwhile, the police launched an investigation into the incident and seized the parts of the gas cylinder to examine it for quality.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2022