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The blast was likely caused by gas accumulating in a sewer in the Shershah district, police said.
A powerful gas explosion has killed at least 12 people and injured several others in a sewage system in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi.
Police chief Sarafar Nawaz Shaikh said two of the injured were later killed at the hospital, bringing the death toll to 12.
Police spokesman Sohail Jokhio said the explosion was most likely caused by gas accumulated in the sewer under a bank building in the city’s Shershah district.
Windows in the surrounding buildings were smashed, several cars parked nearby were damaged by the blast, and debris was dumped at a gas station on the other side of the building.
Jokhio said it is not yet clear what ignited the gas, but a team of experts in explosives was called in to investigate.
“An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the blast and provide the necessary treatment to the injured,” Karachi’s administrator Murtaza Wahab said in a Twitter message.
A witness, Mohammad Sameer, said he was in a crowded bank branch a few moments before the blast, but fled shortly before the blast.
He said he returned to the damaged bank to rescue the victims. “Thank God I left the premises, otherwise I would have been among those affected as well,” he said.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan took to social media to offer condolences and “heartfelt prayers” to the family’s victims.
My prayers and condolences are addressed to all the families of the victims of the explosion at Sher Shah Paracha Chowk in Karachi. I am particularly saddened to learn of the loss of our MP Alamgir Khan’s father, who also died in the blast. May Allah give you the strength to bear this loss
– Imran Khan (mImranKhanPTI) December 18, 2021
Many of Karachi’s sewers have been covered, mostly illegally, with concrete structures built on them.
Mukhtar Abro, a local administrator, said the blast had led to the abandonment of illegal buildings on the blast site and the demolition of structures.
Karachi, which accounts for 60% of Pakistan’s economic output, has long suffered from crumbling infrastructure, unregulated construction and empty municipal services.
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