KARACHI: Two men died in a fire that erupted after a blast in a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinder shop in Federal B Area late on Saturday night, police and rescue services officials said on Sunday.

The Yusuf Plaza police said that Mohammed Fayaz and Umar were killed in the cylinder blast in Block-16 near Sagheer Centre.

Sindh government’s Rescue-1122 official Hassaan Khan told Dawn that they received information about a fire in a shop, but when their team reached the spot, they realised that it was a gas filling shop where fire had erupted after a cylinder blast.

He said that a massive leakage of the gas caused difficulties for firemen.

He said when the fire was put out after three-hour efforts, they found two burnt bodies in the shop.

A nearby shop owner told the rescue team that the victims often used to visit the LPG cylinder shop and probably were friends of the owner.

The bodies were taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medico-legal formalities.

The rescue team officer said that the cause of the fire appeared to be a leakage from the LPG cylinder, but it was also possible that someone might have lit a cigarette which set off the fire.

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2024