Explosion causes building collapse in eastern Pakistan, killing 25

LAHORE, Pakistan -- A gas explosion caused an apartment building to collapse in eastern Pakistan, killing at least 25 people and injuring 20 others as they slept early Tuesday, police and rescue officials said.

Rescue workers were sifting through the rubble in a search for at least three others feared trapped inside the three-story building that housed workers' quarters, low-end apartments and an ice cream parlor.

City police chief Aftab Cheema said it was not immediately clear what triggered the explosion. Survivors, some in critical condition, said gas cylinders had been stored in the building's basement and they had long feared they would explode.

Cheema said eight of the 25 people killed were from the same family.

Three nearby homes and several vehicles were also damaged.

Mohammed Afzal, the official in charge of the rescue operation, said the blast around 3 a.m. was heard around Lahore, the capital of Pakistan's eastern Punjab province.

"We have been told that dozens of people were inside the building at the time of the blast. We are trying to save as many people as possible," he said.

He expected it would take another four hours to clear the debris.

"We are using cranes and bulldozers. We are very careful because some people are still believed buried in the rubble," he said, as grieving relatives and residents wailed and cried for their loved ones.

Zubair Chattha, a senior police official, told The Associated Press that the rescue teams had pulled out 25 bodies from the rubble after a 15-hour operation.

"They have seen three more bodies in the basement where the blast occurred. Despite darkness, they are trying to reach the spot to look for the survivors," he said.

The building housed a small ice cream factory whose 12-15 workers slept inside.

"First I heard a big explosion, and then saw the roof falling. I don't know what happened next, but when I opened my eyes, I was on a hospital bed," said one of the workers, Munib Ahmad, 25, recovering at Lahore's Jinnah Hospital. His head was bandaged.

Other survivors at the hospital said the building owner had ignored repeated requests to move the gas cylinders that were stored in the basement.

"We always feared that it would happen one day," said Sardar Ahmed, 34, who was sleeping on the second floor when the blast occurred. "He never paid any attention to our requests."

The owner, a retired academic, could not be reached for comment.

City mayor Mian Amir Mahmood told reporters he had ordered an investigation and those found responsible would be punished.

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