Karachi cylinder explosion: Case registered, building owner arrested

KARACHI (Dunya News) - A case has been registered at Soldier Bazaar Police Station on Friday regarding the collapse of a residential building caused by a gas leakage explosion.

A cylinder explosion in a building in Karachi’s Soldier Bazaar area on Thursday killed at least 16 people and injured 14 others.

The plot owner, Irshad, has been arrested for constructing a ground-plus-floor building on a 40-square-yard plot. According to the FIR, T.R. girders were used throughout the building.

The FIR states that a resident, Zebun Nisa, lit the stove at the time of sehri. Due to a faulty gas line, the room had filled with gas. As soon as a match was struck, a fire broke out followed by an explosion. The blast caused the rooms of the three-storey building to collapse.

Sixteen people were killed and fourteen injured in the incident. CCTV footage of the incident has also surfaced. The building owner claimed that gas fittings with iron pipes had been installed, while any plastic pipe fittings may have been installed by the tenants.