PESHAWAR: A gas cylinder explosion killed six people and injured two others in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Saturday, according to an official. The incident, which occurred in the Mardan district’s Aram Colony, caused the collapse of a two-storey house, said Bilal Ahmad Faizi, spokesperson for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Rescue 1122, an emergency rescue service. “Six people were killed and two girls were seriously injured in the accident,” Faizi said. Rescue teams reached the site soon after receiving information about the explosion and recovered the bodies while rescuing the injured trapped under the rubble, he said. Mardan Deputy Commissioner Azmatullah Wazir, District Emergency Officer Syed Shoaib Mansoor and Assistant Commissioner Junaid Khalid were present at the scene and supervised the entire operation, he added. The operation was completed in seven hours, including the recovery of the dead and transfer of the injured to a hospital. Incidents of fire caused by leakage and explosion of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders occur routinely across the country. Following an LPG tanker explosion in Punjab province’s Multan that killed at least 19 and injured over a dozen others earlier this year, the Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat ordered a probe into the sale of adulterated LPG. In February, 12 people were injured after a gas cylinder exploded in a roadside cafe near the Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) in Peshawar, a rescue official said.
