Hyderabad gas blast death toll rises to 23

KARACHI: Two more children succumbed to injuries on Wednesday as the death toll from a blast at a liquid petroleum gas (LPG) cylinder filling shop in Hyderabad’s Preetabad area rose to 23, ARY News reported.

The deputy commissioner Hyderabad while confirming the deaths said that four-year-old Haram and 13-year-old Mahnoor were being treated at Karachi’s private hospital. He said that the two children breathe their last, taking the death toll to 23.

The deputy commissioner Hyderabad said that 29 persons are still in critical condition and being treated.

The cylinder blasted into a ground-floor shop which had started to spread to the top levels of the building where the families reside on May 30

The blast took place in the LPG cylinder filling shop located on the ground floor of Zacha Bacha Hospital area along Mir Nabi Bux Town Road in UC-8 of Neerunkot town.

At least 60 people, mostly children, received serious burn injuries and had to be shifted to Karachi after being provided emergency treatment at the Liaquat University Hospital (LUH).

Some 18-22 injured persons with 80pc to 90pc burns were referred to a major hospital in Karachi.

Sindh governor Kamran Tessori distributed cash assistance among each of the 60 families affected by the Hyderabad cylinder blast

Speaking to the families whose dear ones have lost their lives in the tragedy, Tessori said that on the request of MQM leader Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will also come to Hyderabad after his visit to China.

He said: “We didn’t learn lesson from the past; minor incidents had been occurring earlier, but now this tragedy has struck us and these families.”

Governor Tessori said it was administration’s responsibility to look into the issue of substandard cylinder.