At least 10 people were killed and 11 others injured in an explosion on Saturday at a popular bank at a Karachi bank branch built on a sewage drain in the city’s industrial area.
A senior police officer said a gas leak could be the reason for the blast at a branch of Pakistan’s largest bank Habib Bank Ltd. Our explosives team is working in an attempt to ascertain the nature of the blast, but apparently the structure was conduit and build-up on gas could be a possible cause, Sarfaraz Nawaz told reporters.
A petrol station located next to the bank in Sindh Industrial Trading Estate and cars parked nearby were badly damaged.
Television footage showed the floor of the bank torn apart, showing bent iron rods.
Another senior police officer Sharjeel Kharal told reporters that it was not immediately clear how many people were killed or injured in the blast as there were skeletons of bank employees on Saturday.
Construction laws are often flouted in Pakistan. Several sewage drains have been made paved to make way for parking in Karachi.
Last month, the country’s Supreme Court ordered the demolition of a multi-storey apartment building constructed on an illegal plot of land on Karachi’s main road.
