Minor dead, five of her family injured in house collapse

KARACHI: A six-year-old girl was killed and five members of her family were injured when their house collapsed after an explosion in a gas pipeline in Nusrat Bhutto Colony late Wednesday night. According to Sir Syed police station SHO Mumtaz Panhwar, a leakage caused an explosion in a Sui Southern Gas Company pipeline passing through Nusrat Colony due to which a house which reportedly had been built on the pipeline’s encroached land collapsed while the family of six was sleeping inside. He said a heavy contingent of police and paramilitary Rangers reached the site and rescue teams were called in to remove the rubble in order to pull the trapped family out. Using excavators, staff of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation removed the wreckage and rescued the family, he said. Anwar, 45, his wife Rooh Afza, 35, their son five-year-old Umair and three daughters – six-year-old Sania, eight-year-old Asma, and fifteen-year-old Sehar – were pulled out of the debris in the rescue operation. The injured were taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where Sania, the youngest of the daughters, succumbed to her wounds.The SHO further said that an SSGC team also reached the site of the explosion and began repairing the pipe once supply was shut off to the area. West Zone Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIGP) Zulfiqar Larik told The News that he visited the site and met with the area residents who told him they had submitted complaints to the SSGC a few days ago to send its staff and fix the leak. The DIGP further said that as per law, construction on land where a gas pipeline is passing through is strictly forbidden and the affected family had been living on such an encroached space. Larik ruled out the involvement of terrorists in the incident and said the explosion of the gas pipeline was purely a mishap.