KARACHI: The death toll in a gas explosion that took place in a Gulistan-i-Jauhar apartment earlier this month rose to three as a child died during treatment at a hospital on Sunday, officials and his relatives said.

Sana Bashir Ahmed, 40, and her 18-year-old daughter Alishba were killed and 13 others injured in a gas explosion in their flat in Gulistan-i-Jauhar on Nov 5.

Sana’s two daughters and four-year-old son, Hamza, were among the injured persons. They were initially shifted to the Burns Centre of the Civil Hospital Karachi. Later, the minor boy was shifted to a private hospital in Gulshan-i-Iqbal where he died during treatment.

Police Surgeon Summaiya Syed said that Hamza had suffered 20 per cent burns while his mother and sister had suffered 90pc burns.

The bomb disposal squad in its report had stated that the explosion was so powerful that doors and domestic use goods were destroyed. “Accumulation of gas at one place caused the explosion,” it concluded, ruling out the possibility of any sabotage.

The relatives said that the victims shifted in their rented house on Nov 4 and they were still unpacking when they sensed some gas leakage. As they were trying to ascertain the source of the leakage a huge explosion ripped through the apartment and over a dozen people suffered burns in subsequent fire.

Meanwhile, the body of an unidentified man, stuffed in a gunny bag, was found at a desolate place in Surjani Town. The corpse, who bore marks of torture, was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medico-legal formalities.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2022