Fireworks Blast Kills 17 in Pakistan

05/02/2003| IslamWeb

Shipping containers full of fireworks caught fire and exploded in Sailkot, Pakistan Tuesday, blowing in walls of a nearby school and raining fiery debris on surrounding buildings. At least 17 people were killed, including two children. Dozens of others were injured in the blasts at a trucking depot near the town of Sialkot as the fireworks were being placed in two containers for shipment to Lahore, 60 miles to the southwest.

Officials said the fireworks had been falsely listed on shipping documents as children's toys, but said they didn't yet know what sparked the explosions.

Customs officials had opened the container and were checking its contents when the explosions began, said the depot's general manager, Salim Sheikh. A customs inspector was among those killed, he said.

Sheikh ruled out terrorism as a cause of the blast.

Hospital officials in Sialkot said at least seven of the injured were in critical condition, three with serious burns.

It was not clear what caused the fireworks to go off, but authorities said they would investigate.

Lahore, the main city in eastern Pakistan, is a central marketplace for the sale of fireworks in the country, and traders bring the material from all over. The government has tried, unsuccessfully, to crack down on the trade.

In June 2001, an explosion at a private house used for making fireworks killed eight people in a poor section of Lahore.

PHOTO CAPTION

People look at the damaged caused by an explosion at Samrial near Sialkot, 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Lahore, Pakistan on Tuesday, Feb 4, 2003 in Pakistan. Shipping containers being loaded with fireworks caught fire on Tuesday, sparking a series of powerful explosions that killed at least 17 people. (AP Photo/Salam G