Two workers were killed and 15 others were injured on Thursday night when a boiler at a factory on Sargodha Road exploded.
Police said Zahoor Ahmad, a resident of Samana Chak, and Sohail Ali, a resident of Mansoorabad, were killed when a boiler at Dawood Export Mills exploded.
Police said the injured – Abdul Ghafoor, Aashiq Hussain, Kamran, Sajjad, Sarfaraz, Sharafat, Ghulam Rasool, Muhammad Boota, Muhammad Usman, Waqas, Abdus Sattar, Dilawar Hussain, Bashir Ahmad, Robin and Asif – had been taken to Allied Hospital, Faisalabad, by Rescue 1122.
Dr Iftikhar, the emergency ward incharge at the hospital, said Ghulam Rasool’s condition was critical.
Rehmat Ali, a resident of Sargodha Road, told The Express Tribune that he had heard the explosion at his home 500 yards away from the mill.
“I got up but could not understand what had happened… I saw people rushing towards the mill. I thought there had been a terrorist attack,” he said.
He said when he reached the mill the security guards were not allowing people in. “Even at the mill’s gate one could hear workers screaming… Rescue teams arrived half an hour later.” “The mill’s administration didn’t allow the media people to enter,” he added. Nishatabad Station House Officer (SHO) Khalid Mahmood Khan said a case had been registered against boiler engineer Muhammad Sajjad and Amjad Hussain, the general manager.
He said a team had been constituted to arrest the suspects.
A preliminary inquiry carried out by the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) concluded that the incident occurred “due to a thermo oil heater being operated with wood manually fed as fuel.”
The report said that the EPA team had sealed a boiler and two thermo oil heaters at the factory.
It also said that proper measures were not in place to control the temperature and pressure of the vessel.
It said the factory had been directed to install safety devices and furnish fresh fitness certificates.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 28th, 2013.