Number of deaths climbs to 18 in Hyderabad cylinder blast incident

KARACHI: The number of deaths in the Hyderabad cylinder blast incident has risen to 18, revealed a report issued by a hospital in Karachi on Tuesday.

As per Civil Hospital Karachi, critically wounded two-year-old Haram Ashraf and 35-year-old Ashraf Hussain are among the persons injured in the incident. They are being treated at the port city’s hospital.

The injured also include five-year-old Kinza Zeeshan, six-year-old Aliya M Farrukh and nine-year-old Faizan Ashraf.

The tragic explosion occurred on Thursday last week at a shop of liquefied petroleum gas (LNG) cylinders in the Preetabad area of Hyderabad.

When people moved towards the shop to put out the fire after the first blast at 6pm, another loud explosion took place, which engulfed the shop in flames and caused fires in some adjacent houses and shops in the densely populated area of the city.

Initially, two deaths and 49 injuries were reported. Those with serious injuries were shifted to the Civil Hospital Hyderabad, Combined Military Hospital and Civil Hospital Karachi.

According to eyewitnesses, one of the fires also burned a rickshaw and injured several passers-by.

People sitting in houses around the shop suffered burn injuries as well. They said the fire brigade reached the scene 40 minutes after the first explosion.