Pakistan: 10 casualties reported in explosion at Karachi petrol pump near Abdullah College

A severe explosion on Friday night in the North Nazimabad neighbourhood of Karachi, Pakistan, took the lives of four citizens while injuring six others which even included two women, according to local media reports quoting police and rescue personnel. The explosion occurred near Abdullah College, at a petrol pump, the DIG of West zone Nasir Aftab informed the Dawn.  

The senior officer Aftab stated that the blast took place in the electric room of the petrol pump and the effect was experienced in the surrounding area. The number of fatalities and injuries was also confirmed by the police officer, as per the Pakistani daily Dawn. Further, according to Aftab, the blast in the petrol pump was caused by a short circuit inside an electric room in which the electric system is managed. He further added that the customers standing in line for fuel were injured by shattered glass, AP reported. 

The Nasir Aftab even stated that the occurrence completely looks like an accident and that someone sabotaging the incident was not possible. In the meantime, authorities sent a bomb disposal team to determine the nature of the explosion. According to Dawn, a spokesman for Edhi Foundation, which moved the dead and injured of the blast to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, revealed that all of the fatalities were men. 

Death toll in Karachi explosion

However, Nazimabad Station house officer (SHO) Ayazudin stated that apparently a "cylinder blast" had occurred at a Byco petrol station in Block-A, North Nazimabad. He went on to say that Sultan Imran who was 50 years old, has been identified as one among the deceased, while the identities of the three others were unknown, although an official claimed they were in their 30s to 50s, according to Dawn. 

Two women, Alia Humayun and Humera Waqar, 21, were wounded during the blast, he added. Abdul Waheed, 30, Sohail Ishaq, 35, Abid Muhammad, and Waqar Siddiq, 24, were among the surviving injured, according to the official. He said that the police are looking into the situation. 

Furthermore, as per the Dawn website, Barrister Murtaza Wahab, the Karachi Administrator, expressed sorrow for the lives lost in the explosion in Karachi and stated that the event was being investigated by the police. He ordered officials to give the injured the greatest medical care available and further promised to reveal the details when the investigation was done. 

(Image: Twitter/ @PSOPakistan/ Representative Image)