LAHORE: Two labourers were killed and three others injured when a gas cylinder exploded in a factory in Shahdara on Sunday.

The labourers were cutting iron plates to fix a machine in a garment factory in Saeed Park when a gas cylinder exploded causing a huge blast.

As a result, fire erupted in the factory that engulfed the inflammable material stored there.

The locals informed the Rescue 1122 emergency service and police about the incident. The rescuers reached the spot and removed the debris after extinguishing the fire.

They pulled out five labourers from the debris who suffered critical burns. The injured were shifted to hospital where two of them -- Irfan and Younis -- were declared dead. The condition of the other three -- Shahnawaz, Abid Hussain and Ishtiaq -- was said to be critical.

Police shifted the two bodies to morgue and started investigations.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2018