LARKANA: A powerful blast caused by a leaking gas cylinder or its rubber pipe claimed two lives and left 18 men, women and children injured in the densely populated Luhar locality of Larkana city on Tuesday.

Residents of the neighbourhood and officials at the Haidery police station said that the leaks in the LPG cylinder and its rubber pipe had filled the kitchen and rooms of a house with gas and when someone from among the family lit a matchstick, it caused the blast. Four house caught fire and suddenly collapsed. Three adjacent houses also sustained partial damage due to the impact of the blast, they said.

Rescue-1122 and police personnel, along with municipal employees and locals, immediately started relief and rescue work and took out many people from under the rubble.

A 40-year-old woman, Yasmeen, wife of Qurban Mugheri, and five-year-old Ghulam Mustafa, son of Sikandar Ali Mugheri, who had suffered severe burn injuries, died during emergency treatment shortly after they were transported to a nearby hospital.

Four houses collapse, several others damaged due to fire and impact of blast, many of 18 injured victims suffer burns

The condition of four other victims, Komal, Mohammad Wasi, Jawad and Sajida, was critical, said doctors, who added that they were referred to a major hospital in Karachi for advanced treatment.

Five women and seven children were among a dozen other people who received multiple injuries in the incident. They were identified as Mukhtiar Jatoi, his wife, Sajida, and son, Mohammad Ali; Qurban Ali Mugheri and his sister-in-law Hina Khatoon; five children of Javed Rind — Mithi,10, Alisha, 12, Anusha, 11, Zoya, 10 and Jawad, 9; Kashaf Batool, 7, and Bebo, 6, daughters of Kashif Pathan; Qiswa, 4, and one-year-old Wasi Pathan; Fazila, 30, Salma Shaukat Ali, and Farhan Ehsan Ali, 15.

They were rushed to the Trauma Centre at the Chandka Medical College Hospital where an emergency was declared. Additional staff, including doctors and paramedics, were called in to handle the so many cases.

Besides that of Mukhtiar Jatoi, the homes of Qurban Mugheri, Irfan Rind and Kashif Pathan were destroyed in the incident, locals said.

The Trauma Centre administration said the health facility received and treated 14 injured men, women and children. They said two of the injured children had to be put on ventilators and four other victims were already referred to a Karachi hospital.

Some of the local residents claimed that Mukhtiar Jatoi had provided gas connection to the three affected houses from his LPG cylinder. They also claimed that the leakage had actually occurred in Mugheri’s home.

Soon after the incident, Larkana Deputy Commissioner Dr Sharjeel Noor Channa, Assistant Commissioner Raja Khan Qureshi, Mayor Advocate Anwar Ali Luhar and Haidery DSP Ahmed Bakhsh supervised the rescue and relief work at the site. SSP Ahmed Faisal Chaudhry reviewed the situation and sought a detailed report from the officials concerned.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2025