A man was killed and six other people were injured after an explosion occurred at an outlet of a food delivery service in the DHA neighbourhood on Monday afternoon.
This was the fourth incident of a similar nature to have occurred in Karachi in less than a month. In two of the earlier incidents, fires had broken out after gas leaks caused explosions, while in the third incident, a blast had occurred due to the accumulation of gas in a water tank.
These incidents have claimed the lives of at least nine people, including women and children, and injured around a dozen and a half others since September 19 in Korangi, Lyari, Shah Faisal Colony and DHA.
In the latest incident, seven people suffered serious burn injuries after a loud explosion took place at a newly opened outlet of a food delivery service on the ground floor of a multi-storey residential building at Khayaban-e-Jami in DHA Phase-VII.
The blast was very loud and besides damaging the outlet and its infrastructure, it also damaged the vehicles parked outside and the windowpanes of the nearby buildings. After receiving information about the incident, the Gizri police and rescue workers reached the site of the explosion and took the casualties to the burns ward of the Dr Ruth KM Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi.
Police said that a total of seven people were injured because of the explosion, while one of them later succumbed to his injuries during treatment. He was identified as 25-year-old Faiz, son of Sharif. Police said the man worked at the outlet and was a resident of Korangi.
The injured included 16-year-old Shah Noor, son of Shahzad, 36-year-old Zohaib, son of Maqsood, 30-year-old Amir, son of Sagheer, and 26-year-old Anil, son of Noman. Two others are yet to be identified. Doctors have termed the condition of one of the unidentified injured as critical. Officials from the police, Rangers, bomb disposal squad and DHA vigilance team also reached the site of the explosion to conduct their investigations into the incident.
They said that all of the victims were in the kitchen of the outlet when the blast occurred. Police said that according to the initial investigation, the incident might have occurred due to a gas leak or a boiler explosion.
This was the fourth incident of a similar nature to have occurred in the city since last month. On September 30, a woman and her daughter lost their lives, while four others suffered serious burn injuries in a fire that broke out after a gas leak explosion in their house in the Lyari neighbourhood.
The Chakiwara police said that the blast had occurred after gas had accumulated due to its leakage in the house located in the Mira Naka area. A day after the incident, a minor girl died and three others, including her parents, suffered burn injuries in an explosion that occurred due to a gas leak at a house located in Millat Town of Shah Faisal Colony.
According to the police, the explosion had occurred due to a gas leak. As a result, 42-year-old Shahid, his 36-year-old wife Perveen, their 12-year-old daughter Ammara and 40-year-old Imran suffered burn injuries. Later, Ammara succumbed to her injuries during treatment, while the doctors also termed the condition of other injured as serious.
On September 19, at least nine people from a family, mostly women, suffered critical burn injuries in an explosion due to the accumulation of gas in an underground water tank at a house in District Korangi.
Later, five members of the family succumbed to their injuries at the hospital. The blast had occurred in the water tank of the house in the 100 Quarters locality, leaving nine people, including seven women, injured. The explosion had also damaged the structure of the property and the vehicles parked outside. Police said the blast had occurred due to the accumulation of gas inside the tank.
