MARDAN: A powerful gas leak explosion ripped through a house in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Mardan on Saturday, killing six members of the same family and injuring two others, according to police officials.
The powerful blast caused the roof of the two-storey house in Aram Colony to collapse, trapping residents under the debris. Rescue 1122 teams reached the spot and pulled out eight people, including women and children, from the rubble during the operation.
The injured were rushed to the Mardan Medical Complex.
The deceased, all belonging to the same household, were laid to rest after funeral prayers, held at the Railway Station Ground. A large number of citizens attended the funeral.
A day earlier, former federal minister and Senator Abbas Afridi succumbed to burn injuries sustained in a gas leak explosion, while three others were wounded.
Afridi, as per police and family sources, was severely injured in the blast, which occurred on Thursday, and was receiving treatment at a hospital where he later died.
Fires triggered by leakage or blasts of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders have become alarmingly frequent, posing a persistent threat to public safety.
Last month, five people, including a woman and her three children, were burnt alive when a massive fire engulfed an LPG gas refilling shop located on the ground floor of a three-story residential building in the Ravi Road area.
The incident occurred when at least five LPG cylinders exploded in quick succession following what officials suspect to be a gas leak. The blasts caused the complete collapse of all three floors of the building, trapping residents under the rubble and in raging flames.
The fire, which quickly spread to the upper floors where two families resided, turned the structure into an inferno within minutes. Rescue 1122 emergency teams rushed to the scene as thick clouds of smoke billowed into the sky, visible from miles away. Firefighters and rescue personnel worked for hours to control the blaze and search for survivors amidst the debris.
