At least 16 dead in gas explosion

In grief: Women mourning over the death of their relatives near the site of a gas explosion in an apartment building, in Karachi. — AP

A gas explosion ripped through an apartment building in Pakistan’s largest port city of Karachi, killing at least 16 people, including women and children, and injuring several others after part of the structure collapsed, police and rescue officials said.

The explosion happened when people were preparing a pre-dawn meal on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in a residential area of Karachi, the capital of Sindh province, local police chief Rizwan Patel said yesterday.