KARACHI, June 1: Two workers of the Karachi Electricity Supply Company lost their lives in a cylinder blast at Bin Qasim Power Plant on Sunday.

A mechanical fitter and an auxiliary plant operator were transpiring hydrogen from the cylinder when it exploded. Officials believe that the blast was caused by some technical negligence although it was a routine job.

The blast caused panic in Production Unit No 4 of the power plant and forced officials inside the facility to call in fire tenders. However, the company officials said the blast did not cause any fire, as it occurred at an isolated place.

“Our two workers — Hidayatullah and Amir Sharif — were actually transpiring hydrogen cylinder as a routine but some negligence or other factor caused the blast,” said a KESC official.

He said that the mechanical fitter, Hidayatullah, died on the spot, while the auxiliary plant operator, Amir Sharif, was injured in the blast. He was rushed to the Liaquat National Hospital, but he could not survive.

Resident of Korangi, 45-year-old Hidayatullah left a widow and four children. Amir Sharif, a resident of Gulistan-i-Jauhar, was father of two sons.

A report, meanwhile, compiled by the fire department suggests that a couple of fire tenders were sent to the Bin Qasim unit of the KESC. However, they returned as firefighting or rescue operations were not required.“Our Landhi Fire Station received a call from the unit but it proved a precautionary alarm, as there was no fire inside the facility and we didn’t need to launch any operations,” said an official at the Central Fire Station.

A KESC official claimed: “The cylinder blast did not disturb our operations. Since it occurred at an isolated place there was no fire and we did not feel any need to suspend the power supply even as a precautionary measure. Power outages in the city are in line with our load-shedding plans,” he said.

As the KESC official said the company high-ups had asked the human resource department to compensate the families of both victims, workers of the privatised entity blamed poor management and lack of technical facilities as major reasons behind such incidents.

“It is not the first time that we lost our colleagues,” said Muhammad Akhlaq Khan, Deputy Chairman of the KESC Labour Union.

He said that a blast in turbine at the Korangi Thermal Power Station caused deaths of two workers in 1997. “But the management did not come up with the facts behind that incident neither we expect the current corporate management to take any such initiatives,” he added.

The place where the blast occurred housed 20 hydrogen cylinders, he said, regretting that workers remained exposed to such threats due to lack of technical facilities and least interest of the management to ensure safety measures.

“During last two years some 25 officers, who were recognized as the best professionals in the field of power generations not only in Pakistan but the whole region, have resigned from the company due to anti-workers policy of the corporate management,” he said, adding that the vacuum was filled with the recruitment of unskilled and non-technical staff.