&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Explosion at glue factory in Pakistan kills 18; several nearby homes damaged")
An explosion at a glue-making factory in eastern Pakistan on Friday, left around 18 people dead and 21 others injured. The blast was so massive and devastating that the factory building in Faisalabad, a city in Punjab province, was destroyed and several nearby homes were damaged. The explosion also ignited a huge fire and spread panic in Faisalabad’s Malikpur area. Police said they arrested the factory manager and were looking for the factory owner who fled shortly after the explosion at the industrial unit.
Punjab police chief Usman Anwar said the cause of the explosion was not immediately known. Police later said a gas leakage may have caused the boiler explosion.
Faisalabad Commissioner, Raja Jahangir Anwar, said the explosion occurred after a gas pipeline burst in the chemical factory. He added that four factories were operating as a single connected unit.
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‘Explosion flattened the factory completely’
Raja Jahangir said an investigation was underway to ascertain how the construction of the factory was allowed in a residential area of Faisalabad in violation of laws.
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Jahangir said the explosion flattened the factory completely, and the rescuers are pulling bodies and survivors out of the rubble. The toll may go up further as several of the injured were in critical condition.
Witnesses said the blast was so powerful that nearby homes collapsed and debris was hurled across the streets. Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif expressed her condolences and ordered the authorities to ensure the best possible medical care for the injured.
Locals thought that it was a bomb or some projectile had struck
Muhammad Iqbal, one of the injured undergoing treatment at the local hospital, said it felt “like an earthquake” and “roofs and walls of nearby houses collapsed.” He said his wife and son were also injured, but they were in a stable condition.
Many locals initially thought that it was a bomb or some projectile that had struck.
Poor safety standards are a common cause of industrial accidents and factory fires in Pakistan. In 2024, a dozen workers were injured in a boiler explosion at a textile mill in Faisalabad. Last week, a blast at a firecracker factory in the port city of Karachi killed four people.
Earlier, Rescue 1122 said the boiler of the factory had exploded but later attributed the explosion to a gas leak, which was confirmed by Faisalabad Commissioner Raja Jahangir Anwar’s office, reported Dawn.
“A fire erupted in one of the factories due to gas leakage and engulfed the other factories as well.”
