KARACHI, Nov 21 An LPG trader was killed and his two employees sustained severe burns when the cylinders placed in his shop on Abul Hassan Ispahani Road blew up on Saturday.

The explosion that also caused the outbreak of a big fire destroyed the shop, area police said.

They said the cause of the explosion could not be ascertained immediately, but it was believed that a gas leak in one of the cylinders could be a reason.

“The owner of the shop, Rana Mukhtar, 35, died on the spot while his two workers sustained severe burn wounds,” said DSP Rizwan Wasti, the area's supervisory police officer.

The injured workers were shifted to a nearby hospital for treatment. Three fire tenders rushed to the scene and put out the fire in about an hour.

Deceased Rana Mukhtar was a father of two children and lived in the same locality. He had been running the LPG business for about a decade.

“There seems to be no criminal act behind the incident which looks like an accident,” the DSP said, adding that the accident occurred due to some negligence. He said that a car parked nearby was also destroyed after catching fire in the blast.