SARGODHA: A shopkeeper was critically injured in a fire that broke out at a liquified petroleum gas (LPG) decanting shop in the densely populated area of Maqam-e-Hayat, Milad Chowk, on Tuesday.

According to Rescue 1122, the shopkeeper, Muhammad Aslam, was decanting gas when the fire broke out due to short-circuit in the filling motor. The incident left Aslam critically burnt and created panic in the area. He suffered burns to his arms, legs and face and was shifted to the DHQ (Dr. Faisal Masood) Teaching Hospital.

The fire caused an estimated loss of Rs500,000 but the firefighters brought it under control, saving property and goods worth Rs15m .

ACCIDENTS: Three persons were killed and 19 others were seriously injured in four traffic accidents in the Sargodha area.

In the first incident, 55-year-old Muhammad Riaz of Bangla Hussain Shah was killed in a collision between a motorcycle and a loader-rickshaw near Wadhi Stop in Shahpur, Sargodha.

The second accident occurred on the Jauharabad-Muzaffargarh road, a motorcyclist, Muhammad Shahbaz of Zaman Colony, and a rickshaw rider, Muhammad Ramzan of Darya Khan, were killed in a collision between a rickshaw and a motorcycle due to speeding.

Rickshaw driver Omar Hayat, rickshaw riders Shakeel and Subhan were seriously injured. They were shifted to the hospital. In the third incident, three persons, including the driver and women, were injured when a bus coming Gujrat lost control at high speed due to the driver’s dizziness and crashed into the divider near Salem on the Sargodha-Gujrat Road.

As a result, three people, including conductor Muhammad Waqas of Sargodha, passenger Muhammad Azam of Chak 23 North, and a woman Zubaida Bibi of Chak-22 North were seriously injured.

In the fourth incident, six people were injured when a van overturned near Mauza Jhok Mor on the Sargodha-Faisalabad Road.

The injured were identified as 50-year-old Zahran Bibi of Faisalabad, 55-year-old Sarfaraz, 20-year-old Ambreen Munir, 50-year-old Mumtaz Bibi, 41-year-old Muhammad Hasnain of Lalian, and 48-year-old Allah Dutta of Chiniot.

PFA RAID: The Punjab Food Authority (PFA) raided an illegal slaughterhouse set up in a house and recovered 300kg of substandard meat.

PFA claimed that their food safety team raided a house in Kot Momin and caught a butcher illegally slaughtering animals.

A veterinary doctor declared the meat harmful to human health, upon which the food safety team disposed of 300kg of meat.

PFA said further legal action was underway against the accused.

Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2026