Girl killed, 5 others injured as gas cylinder explodes in car in Karachi

A minor girl died of burns while five of her family members were injured in an explosion in a car in Karachi’s Quaidabad area early on Tuesday morning, according to police, hospital and rescue services officials.

They added that six people suffered burn injuries when a liquified petroleum gas (LPG) cylinder exploded inside the car at Quaidabad’s main roundabout.

Rescue-1122 spokesperson Hassaanul Haseeb Khan told Dawn that the family was filling LPG cylinders from a roadside shop when the explosion took place.

Regarding possible reasons, Khan said that generally, “Such explosions take place because of a lack of mandatory hydrostatic tests after a certain period.

“Another possible reason was that when the cylinder is filled with LPG with pressure, it triggers an explosion,” he added.

Khan noted a similar incident in Shah Faisal Colony recently with human casualties. He added that these roadside shops took no precautionary measures, as they were illegal.

“The injured were transported to the burns centre at Karachi’s Civil Hospital, where the nine-year-old girl died during treatment,” said police surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed.

Dr Syed added that the girl sustained 80 per cent burn wounds and that the condition of the other five victims was also serious.

“The deceased girl’s two sisters … have suffered 81pc and 71pc burns respectively,” she added. “Their parents and another relative also suffered serious burns.”

In February this year, five members of the same family, including three women, suffered critical burn wounds in an explosion caused by a leakage in a gas geyser in Azizabad, police and rescue officials said.

Area Station House Officer Amir Azam said that the incident took place in the ground floor portion of a four-storey house in Federal B Area’s Block 2 near Al-Falah Masjid.