PAKISTAN: AT LEAST SIXTEEN PEOPLE KILLED IN BUILDING COLLAPSE

Record ID: 216670

  • Title: PAKISTAN: AT LEAST SIXTEEN PEOPLE KILLED IN BUILDING COLLAPSE
  • Date: 4th May 2005
  • Summary: (BN06) LAHORE, PAKISTAN (MAY 3, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. SLV DEBRIS OF COLLAPSED BUILDING; DEBRIS; SLV CRANE CLEARING DEBRIS 0.09 2. SCU GAS CYLINDERS; RESCUE WORKERS AT SITE; PEOPLE LOOKING; MOTORBIKE UNDER RUBBLE; SLV RESCUE WORKERS CLEARING RUBBLE 0.32 3. SLV RESCUE WORKERS LOOKING FOR BODIES; WORKERS TAKING OUT AN INJURED MAN; INJURED BEING T
  • Embargoed: 19th May 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LAHORE, PAKISTAN
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Reuters ID: LVA9OSBNWC19NIPTZA61EXVT24M2
  • Story Text: At least 16 killed in Pakistan building collapse.

    At least 16 people were killed and about a dozen
    injured in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore on Tuesday
    when three buildings collapsed after gas cylinders
    exploded, police and witnesses said.

    More people were feared trapped in the debris of the
    buildings, comprising shops and residential flats,
    witnesses said.

    Police said 14 bodies had been recovered from the site,
    while two of the seriously hurt died in hospital. It was
    not immediately known what caused the gas cylinders to
    explode but police ruled out sabotage.

    "Around 3.30 a.m., cylinders were being filled with gas
    when a loud explosion took place. The three buildings
    collapsed after the blast and people of the neighbourhood
    came rushing out," Police Superintendent Mobin Ahmed told
    reporters.

    Residents said about 40 people lived in the buildings
    and most of them would have been asleep at the time of the
    blast.

    Rehan Butt, a neighbour, told reporters that residents
    of the middle class neighbourhood had repeatedly complained
    to the local authorities about the threat posed by the gas
    facility, but no action had been taken against the owner of
    the business.

    Gas cylinder storage and filling stations are spread in
    many residential areas of Lahore, capital of populous
    Punjab province, without any checks and safeguards.


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