52 killed as explosives go off in Pak village
AFP, Gilgit
More than 52 people were killed and around 70 injured yesterday when explosives used in road works caught fire and detonated in a northern Pakistan village, causing several homes to collapse, officials and witnesses said. The BBC's Zafar Abbas in Islamabad said almost the entire village was destroyed in the series of blasts. Police said an electric short circuit triggered a pre-dawn fire in a house in Gayal village, 168 km south of Gilgit, which spread to a nearby building where the explosives were being stored. Some 200 people rushed to extinguish the blaze and while they were fighting the fire, the explosives -- owned by a government contractor building roads -- caught fire and exploded, witnesses said. "Forty-five people were reported dead after the blast overnight and four died during transportation of casualties to the hospital," said doctor Hamid Khan of the nearby Chilas valley district hospital. "Three more died in our hospital early Sunday," the doctor told AFP by telephone. Around 70 people were brought to the Chilas hospital with serious injuries and "many have been referred to hospitals in Gilgit," Khan said.
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