Sewer Blast Kills 10, Injures More Than a Dozen

Officials still aren't sure what ignited gas that caused explosion in Karachi, Pakistan
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Dec 18, 2021 9:15 AM CST
Sewer Blast Kills 10, Injures More Than a Dozen
Pakistani security personnel and rescuers inspect the scene of a gas explosion in Karachi, Pakistan, on Saturday.   (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

A powerful gas explosion in a sewage system in a southern Pakistan city killed at least 10 people and injured 13 others Saturday, police and a health official said. Police spokesman Sohail Jokhio said the blast was apparently caused when something ignited gas that had accumulated in the sewer beneath a bank building in the Shershah neighborhood of the port city of Karachi, per the AP. Jokhio said it wasn't yet clear what ignited the gas, but a team of explosives experts had been summoned to investigate.

Dr. Sabir Memon at Trauma Center Karachi said 10 people were killed and 13 others were injured, at least three critically. He said several injured were sent to the intensive care unit. Jokhio said windows were shattered in nearby buildings and a parked vehicle nearby was also badly damaged. Many sewage channels in the city have been covered, mostly illegally, by constructing concrete structures over them.

(More Pakistan stories.)

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