SUKKUR: Five persons sustained severe burns after a gas cylinder exploded and triggered a fire at a shop in the Denters-Painters Colony near the city’s bus stand on Friday.

The area police and onlookers said that the LPG cylinder exploded while it was being refilled at the shop. The explosion triggered a fire that engulfed the shop. Three persons present inside were trapped in flames. Two passers-by were also caught in the blaze and were said to be hit by splinters propelled by the blast.

People present near the shop tried to extinguish the fire and rescue the victims trapped inside but in vain. They, however, transported the two passers-by to a nearby Rangers Hospital.

Firefighters rushed to the site and started dousing the blaze and during the process they, along with police and Rangers personnel, took out the other three victims from inside the shop. The rescued persons were also taken to the same hospital for treatment.

Published in Dawn, September 23th, 2023