By Staff Reporter
THARPARKAR: Nine people have died after an oxygen cylinder exploded inside an ambulance at a rural health facility in southern Sindh province, officials said.
The fire broke out at about 10.40pm on Wednesday at a health centre in Dano Dhandhal, in Nagarparkar taluka of Tharparkar district, according to Habibullah, a Rescue 1122 official. Staff were moving a patient into the vehicle when the blast occurred. The ambulance, which belonged to the Peoples Primary Healthcare Initiative (PPHI), the organisation that also runs the centre, was completely gutted.
Seven deaths and five burn injuries were reported on Wednesday night. Mithi Deputy Commissioner Hameed Jagirani confirmed on Thursday that the toll had risen to nine. Other reports, citing the district police chief, Arif Aziz, put the number of dead at at least 10, and the figure had not been reconciled by Thursday evening.
Jagirani said the cylinder exploded while it was being handled for a female patient in the ambulance. She had given birth to a baby boy at a basic health unit and was being transferred to the District Headquarters Hospital in Mithi with post-surgical complications, he said. Other accounts described her as a pregnant woman who was still inside the vehicle when the cylinder blew up.
PPHI District Manager Ibrahim Kumbhar said those killed included staff of the health facility. Police said the dead included the ambulance driver, a watchman and a PPHI dispenser.
The injured were taken to hospitals in Mithi and Nagarparkar, and Rescue 1122 said teams, local officials and the area’s assistant commissioner reached the scene soon after the alarm was raised. Two midwives and a female attendant were among the injured and were later moved to Karachi for treatment, and one casualty died on the way there.
The cause of the explosion has not been officially confirmed.
President Asif Ali Zardari ordered a transparent inquiry into the cause and directed the authorities to strengthen safety measures, the Presidency said. In a statement posted on X, he expressed grief over the deaths and wished the injured a speedy recovery.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah announced compensation of Rs2m for the family of each person killed and ordered the best possible treatment for the injured. He directed Chief Secretary Asif Hyder Shah to arrange an inquiry through the Health Department and submit a detailed report. He also told officials to arrange the last rites of the dead and sent Qasim Soomro, a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) member of the provincial assembly, to Nagarparkar to oversee relief work, according to his spokesperson, Abdul Rasheed Channa.
Sindh Home Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar sought reports from the district’s senior superintendent of police and the deputy commissioner.
Tharparkar is a remote desert district on Sindh’s border with India, where many communities depend on small rural health units and long ambulance transfers to reach hospitals.
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