Pakistan: Massive blast kills at least 16 in Karachi, gas leak likely cause
Most of the casualties are reportedly customers and staff present inside the HBL bank which was built on top of a covered sewage drain in Karachi’s Shershah area and collapsed following the explosion, the Express Tribune newspaper reported.
FollowAt least 16 people were killed, and 16 others injured in an explosion on Saturday in Pakistan’s financial capital of Karachi. A senior police officer said the blast at a branch of Habib Bank Limited, Pakistan’s largest lender, could have been caused by a gas leak, Sarfaraz Nawaz also told reporters that the building appeared to have been constructed over a sewage drain.
“Our explosives teams are at work trying to ascertain the nature of the blast, but apparently the structure was constructed on a drain and gas could be a probable cause,” he said.
In a statement on Twitter, Habib Bank said an explosion had damaged its branch and caused casualties and injuries. “Our sympathies are with the bereaved families,” it added.
“So far 15 people have died and 16 were brought injured to hospital,” Karachi’s administrator Murtaza Wahab said in a tweet.
Another senior police officer, Sharjeel Kharal, told reporters it was not immediately clear how many were dead or injured in the explosion as the bank had a skeleton staff on Saturday.
Most of the casualties are reportedly customers and staff present inside the HBL bank which was built on top of a covered sewage drain in Karachi’s Shershah area and collapsed following the explosion, the Express Tribune newspaper reported.
An initial report of the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) said that the explosion was caused by a build-up of gas in the sewerage line. A senior official was quoted in the report as saying that that counter-terrorism officials were also probing the explosion, PTI reported.
A police spokesperson clarified that there was no lead suggesting that the blast might be linked to terrorism, Geo TV reported.
According to a report in Geo TV, eyewitnesses claim that there were many people who were buried underneath the debris of the building. Excavators were called to the site to remove the debris and rescue any persons trapped there. A bomb disposal unit (BDU) has also arrived at the location which has been cordoned off, the Geo TV report said.
