LARKANA: Two persons suffered critical injuries when roof of an ice factory caved in on them after a gas cylinder exploded on the premises. Two houses adjacent to the factory were also damaged in the blast.

Allah Dino Kalhoro, 13, son of the factory owner Khalil Ahmed Kalhoro, and a technician Abdul Haqeem Panhwar, who had sustained burn injuries were pulled from under the debris and immediately shifted to trauma centre.

Civil Lines DSP Dr Zahoor Soomro, who accompanied by Waleed police station’s SHO Sartaj Jagirani and Bomb Disposal Squad inspected the explosion site, said the blast was caused by gas cylinder.

The injured had suffered critical injuries and were being transported to Karachi for further treatment, he said.

The factory owner Khalil Ahmed Kalhoro, however, termed the blast an ‘accident’ and said the roof collapsed suddenly and caused the blast. The explosion was not caused by gas cylinder, it was caused by the roof’s collapse, he said.

PPP MPA Jamil Ahmed Soomro, who is also political secretary to the party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, also visited the blast site and said he was told that an explosion caused by gas cylinder had taken place.

Published in Dawn, April 14th, 2024