SIALKOT, Nov 10: Seven people sustained serious injuries in an explosion in the office of a private cellular phone company in Daska early Friday morning.

Warid Telecom’s franchise branch at Lorry Adda was reportedly completely destroyed when the leaked gas from main supply line caught fire and the closed office blew up with a loud thud. The explosion was so huge that one of the walls of the office collapsed and fell on Shahid Bashir, Adnan Rashid, Asghar, Ismail, Ghulam Shabbir and Khaliq Tanvir.

Company’s security guard Zulfiqar of Gujrat, who was sleeping in the office, sustained serious burns.

The injured were referred to Gujranwala and Lahore hospitals due to their critical condition.

Two rickshaws parked near the office were also reduced to ashes.

The explosion created panic in the area as people took it as a bomb blast. Daska ASP Tanvir Alam also rushed to the spot.

The branch management told newsmen later that the gas had been leaking for the last three days from the main supply line which was damaged during digging for laying sewerage line by the Public Health Engineering Department.

They claimed that they had informed the SNGPL office but the staff paid no heed to their complaint.

Some people claimed that the explosion occurred due to a burning cigarette butt thrown by an unidentified man near the building.

Police are investigating.

UPGRADED: The Punjab government has upgraded the Sialkot metal industries development center, converting it into a government technical training institute.

Punjab Industries Minister Muhammad Ajmal Cheema stated this while talking to reporters here. District Nazim Muhammad Akmal Cheema was also present on the occasion.

The minister said that the upgradation would be helpful in providing the advanced technical training and other development skills to the Sialkot-based industrial workers besides paving the way for producing the skilled labour force for the export-oriented cottage industries.