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Pakistan building collapse kills 18
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-03 16:01

Gas cylinders exploded in the basement of an apartment building as residents were asleep early Tuesday, causing the three-story structure to collapse. At least 18 people were killed and 20 injured.

A dozen others were feared trapped under the debris, police chief Aftab Cheema said.

Pakistani rescue workers search the dead bodies at the site of a collapsed three story building in Lahore, Pakistan on Tuesday, May 3, 2005. Twelve people were killed and several others wounded when gas cylinders stored in basement of a building exploded in eastern Pakistan, causing the structure to collapse, police said. (AP
Pakistani rescue workers search the dead bodies at the site of a collapsed three story building in Lahore, Pakistan on Tuesday, May 3, 2005. Eighteen people were killed and several others wounded when gas cylinders stored in basement of a building exploded in eastern Pakistan, causing the structure to collapse, police said. [AP]
Survivors said the building's owner ignored repeated requests to remove the cylinders.

"We always feared that it would happen one day," said Sardar Ahmed, 34, who was sleeping on the second floor at the time.

The owner, a retired academic, could not be reached for comment.

The dead included eight people from the same family, Cheema said. He said police do not know yet what caused the cylinders to explode.

A wounded survivor is taken from the wreckage of three-story building, which collapsed, Tuesday, May 3, 2005. in Lahore, Pakistan Twelve people were killed and several others wounded when gas cylinders stored in basement of a building exploded in eastern Pakistan, causing the structure to collapse, police said. (AP
A wounded survivor is taken from the wreckage of three-story building, which collapsed, Tuesday, May 3, 2005. in Lahore, Pakistan. Eighteen people were killed and several others wounded when gas cylinders stored in basement of a building exploded in eastern Pakistan, causing the structure to collapse, police said. [AP]
Three or four nearby homes were damaged, as were several cars.

Mohammed Afzal, the official in charge of the rescue operation, said the blast happened around 3 a.m. and was heard around Lahore, the main city in eastern Pakistan.

"We have been told that dozens of people were inside the building at the time of the blast. We are trying to save as many people as possible," he said.

Pakistani rescue workers remove a body after a blast in Lahore May 3, 2005. 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. REUTERS
Pakistani rescue workers remove a body after a blast in Lahore May 3, 2005. At least 18 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.[Reuters]
As well as low-scale apartments, the building housed a small ice cream factory whose 12 to 15 workers usually slept on the front lawn but had stayed inside last night because of heavy rain.

"First I heard a big explosion, and then saw the roof falling. I don't know what happened next, but when I opened my eyes, I was on a hospital bed," said one of the workers, Munib Ahmad, 25, recovering at Lahore's Jinnah Hospital.



 
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