By Staff Reporter
KARACHI: At least 16 people, including eight children, were killed and 14 others injured when a gas explosion caused part of a residential building to collapse in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi early on Thursday, officials said.
The blast occurred around 4:15 a.m. (2315 GMT Wednesday) during the Sehri in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in a ground-plus-two-storey structure in the Gul Rana Colony area of Soldier Bazaar, according to Assistant Superintendent of Police Jamshed Asher. Rescue workers pulled bodies and survivors from the rubble in a densely populated low-income neighbourhood, where small rooms and narrow spaces complicated the operation.” This is not a legal building, and the structure is made of individual rooms,” Rescue 1122 Chief Operating Officer Abid Jalaluddin Shaikh told reporters at the site, adding that the collapse also damaged nearby structures.
The dead included four women and four men, aged between two and 60 years, while the injured comprised seven children, according to a casualty list from Rescue 1122. Thirteen bodies were taken to Civil Hospital’s trauma centre. An urban search and rescue team, along with firefighters and a disaster response vehicle, worked through the morning and afternoon to clear the debris, with the operation declared complete by mid-afternoon, Shaikh said. “During a timely and professional operation, Rescue 1122 pulled 13 injured people from under the rubble and recovered 16 bodies,” Rescue 1122 Sindh spokesperson Hassan Khan said in a statement. “Those injured in the incident were pulled from the debris and provided immediate medical assistance.”
Police cordoned off the area and tightened security shortly after the incident was reported, a District East police spokesperson said, with a large contingent of law enforcers assisting rescue teams.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah expressed sorrow over the loss of lives and directed authorities to rescue those trapped, provide the best possible medical aid and investigate the cause, according to a statement from his office. He also ordered support for affected families and instructed the Karachi commissioner to probe the incident. President Asif Ali Zardari conveyed sympathies to the bereaved families and directed the Sindh government to inspect buildings, ensure gas cylinder safety and enforce building codes strictly, state-run Associated Press of Pakistan reported. He called for a thorough investigation into the incident and measures to prevent recurrences.
Building collapses and gas-related accidents are common in Pakistan, often due to poor safety standards, substandard materials and lax enforcement of regulations. Karachi, home to over 20 million people, is particularly prone to such incidents amid overcrowding, illegal extensions and ageing infrastructure. In July 2025, at least 27 people died when a five-storey building collapsed in the city’s Lyari area, despite being declared uninhabitable.
A month later, four workers were injured in a gas explosion that collapsed an office in Orangi Town. In June 2024, 27 people, including 19 children, were killed in a gas cylinder shop explosion in nearby Hyderabad, prompting the Sindh government to order such facilities shifted from residential areas. The latest collapse follows a major fire at Karachi’s Gul Plaza shopping mall weeks ago that killed over 70 people, highlighting ongoing concerns over building safety and oversight in the city’s crowded neighbourhoods, where households often rely on gas cylinders and informal connections with limited safety checks.
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