FAISALABAD: The death toll from the massive explosion at a factory in Faisalabad has risen to 17, officials said on Friday, after one of the injured died in hospital.
At least six others injured in the blast are receiving treatment at local hospitals, with rescue officials confirming that the dead include six children and two women.
The explosion occurred around 5am on Friday morning at a glue-manufacturing factory in Faisalabad’s Malikpur area, collapsing the building and causing extensive damage to nearby structures.
The Faisalabad Commissioner, Raja Jahangir Anwar, said that, according to initial information, the factory explosion occurred due to a gas pipeline bursting in the chemical factory. He added that four factories were operating together as a single connected unit and that the lives lost in the blast were mostly the residents of houses present around the factory.
The premises of the factory span around four to five kanals.
Anwar further stated that Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz was personally monitoring the rescue operation.
Initially, three casualties with multiple injured were reported in the deadly explosion. However, the death toll gradually swelled to 10 and later to 15 after more bodies were pulled out from the debris, while some of the severely injured succumbed to their wounds.
Earlier, a rescue department spokesperson said that the boiler blast in the factory caused the structure to collapse and triggered a fire, which has now been completely extinguished.
The spokesperson further added that the debris-removal work was underway at the site of the explosion, the debris of the collapsed houses had been cleared, and the factory debris was also being removed, and more people are feared to be trapped under the rubble.
The blast took place inside the factory’s chemical warehouse, and the blast caused a major part of the factory, including its roof, to collapse.
Behind the premises of the factory, some rooms of seven to eight houses adjacent to the factory also collapsed, leaving residents as well as factory workers trapped under the rubble.
Police said the manager of the destroyed factory has been taken into custody as part of the investigation.
Meanwhile, civil defence personnel have been called in to assist, and officials said the Faisalabad deputy commissioner is supervising the ongoing rescue and relief efforts at the site.
Governor Punjab Sardar Saleem Haider Khan expressed deep sorrow over the loss of lives in the Faisalabad explosion and extended sympathy and condolences to the bereaved families.
He said protecting the lives of factory employees should be the foremost priority of factory owners and called for standard operating procedures to be formulated for the use of boilers and cylinders in factories.
The governor noted that due to a small mistake, the beloved children of many families had lost their lives, and said he would soon visit Faisalabad. –Agencies
