KARACHI, June 9 Three young factory workers were killed and as many others injured when a boiler at a hosiery factory in Site exploded on Tuesday morning, witnesses and police said.

They said that the victims were sleeping in a truck parked near the boiler that exploded with a big bang at around 7.30am as night-shift employees worked at the factory near Zia Mor in Metroville.

The witnesses said that two factory workers died instantly and another was fatally injured when a boiler piece hit them. They said that steam gushed out of the exploded boiler and pieces of iron were strewn around the site of accident.

One of the injured told Dawn that he was going to drink water from a cooler installed near the boiler room when the explosion occurred. He said that the other two injured were in the restroom and they received scalds.

The dead factory workers - Mansoor Alam, 30, Ali Hussain, 22 and Mehtab, 34, all residents of Orangi Town - were sleeping in the truck after their night duty.

Their bodies were moved to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medico-legal proceedings and the injured victims - Nasir, 23, Khan Mohammed, 26, and Shafique - were shifted to a private hospital.

Hospital sources said that the injured victims received burns from steam and their injuries were not life-threatening.

The area SHO, Inspector Bakht Jamal, told Dawn that an inquiry into the matter had been initiated to ascertain the cause of the explosion.

He quoted the factory administration as saying that the boiler was recently inspected and certified by the competent authority.

Firecracker store collapses

Panic and tension gripped parts of Quetta Town, a neighbourhood off the Super Highway, when firecrackers in a warehouse exploded with a big bang bringing down the building.

Witnesses said that the residents came out of their houses in panic when the explosion occurred in the afternoon at the warehouse of the Pakistan Super Fireworks.

The Sachal police said that the fireworks business was owned by two brothers, Ayub and Hanif, who were booked in a case (FIR 326/2009) under Sections 286 (negligent conduct with respect to explosive substance) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code on behalf of the police.

The area SHO, Inspector Inayat Narejo, said that the suspects had gone underground after the explosion and efforts were being made to track them down.

He said that the warehouse collapsed due to the explosion that also caused a small fire.

Fire brigade sources said that an electric short circuit or hot weather was believed to have been the cause of the explosion.

Woman found dead

A 25-year-old married woman was found hanging from the ceiling fan in her rented house in Marvi Goth, a shantytown near Quaidabad, witnesses and police said.

The Sharafi Goth police said that the victim, Saba, married Khizer one and a half years ago after divorcing her first husband. They said that Khizer had been missing for the past two days.

Sources at the medico-legal section of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where the body was shifted for a post-mortem examination, said that the victim died at least two days back. They said that the cause of death would be ascertained after the receipt of a chemical examination report.

The police said that a case would be registered after the receipt of the final post-mortem examination report.

Boy killed by bandit

A 14-year-old boy was shot dead by a mobile phone snatcher at Ashfaq Colony in Keamari.

The Jackson police said that the victim, Mohammed Ashfaq, son of Mohammed Ali, was talking on his cellphone near his residence when a bandit tried to snatch his set and opened fire when the boy put up resistance.

The body was shifted to the Civil Hospital Karachi where sources said that the victim received a single bullet to his head from a very close range as the bullet went through the skull.

The police registered case (FIR 421/2009) against unidentified bandit under Section 396 (robbery with murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of the victim's uncle, Safdar.

Double murder

Two young men were shot dead in the small hours of Tuesday near Aladin Park by unidentified attackers.

The Aziz Bhatti police said that Tariq, 30, son of Mohammed Hanif, a resident of Gulshan-i-Iqbal, and his friend, Abdul Wahid, 34, a resident of Shah Faisal Colony, were travelling in a car when they were attacked.

They said that Tariq was booked and arrested in the killing of four people in 2004 and he came out of jail on bail.