Sialkot -- Pakistan
Fireworks Blast Kills 17
Dozens injured
2003 -- Shipping
containers full of fireworks caught fire and exploded 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.
A Shopkeeper said he saw bodies "flying
in the air" at the explosion site and found six or seven children pinned under a
collapsed wall in the compound of the Awami Public School.
A man, who lives in the village of Zafarwal, about a
half mile from the site of the explosion, said he was at home when he heard a "huge
bang."
"It was as if an enemy had attacked the city.
Explosions continued one after the other and the villagers rushed out of their homes
thinking they had been attacked," he said.
At his three-room home, relatives mourned over the
body of a boy, 17, a 10th grader, whose father said he was killed by flying pieces from
one of the metal shipping containers.
"I cannot bear the loss. I wanted to see him a
great man. I do not know what happened," his father said through tears.
His funeral was planned for Wednesday in Zafarwali
village, about two miles north of the school. Another boy killed in the school, , 14, was
buried Tuesday evening.
The depot, about eight miles west of Sialkot, was
directly adjacent to the school, separated by a wall. Man-size holes were blown in a
surrounding wall and walls to a school office also toppled.
Customs officials had opened the container and were
checking its contents when the explosions began, said the depot's general manager, . A
customs inspector was among those killed, he said.
He ruled out terrorism as a cause of the blast.
"It might be some mishap," he told The
Associated Press.
A spokesman for Pakistan's Interior Ministry,
said police were attempting to trace those who shipped the fireworks, listed on the
manifest as plastic bullets for toy guns imported from the United Arab Emirates.
The director general of the crisis management center
at the Interior Ministry, confirmed 17 people had been killed.
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.
Man held in Pakistan firework probe
A Pakistani businessman has been arrested for illegally
importing two containers of banned fireworks that exploded and killed 17 people last week.
Irfan Memon, also known as Ameenuddin, was arrested on Tuesday in Karachi, police say.
The containers exploded on 4 February as they were
being inspected at a depot near the eastern town of Sialkot.
The containers had arrived from Dubai, with which Mr
Memon was reported to have trade links.
Torn apart
Karachi police office Ejaz Hashmi said: "The
two containers carrying the explosives were booked by this person."
He said the suspect had been handed over to Sialkot
police.
Some exported Chinese fireworks are dangerous
Customs authorities in Sialkot, unaware the container held fireworks, were examining it
when it exploded, killing a customs inspector and his assistant.
A second fire broke out in a container carrying
imported perfume bottles.
Exploding bottles killed a number of port workers
and three children in a nearby school.
The force of the blast had torn bodies apart.
Another 30 people were injured, 12 of whom needed
hospital treatment.
The importers had falsely listed the contents as
plastic toys on their import documents.
The fireworks had originated in China.
The import of materials used in fireworks is banned.
Despite efforts to crack down on the illegal
fireworks trade, deadly accidents still frequently occur.
Last June, an explosion in Lahore at a private house
used for making fireworks killed eight people.
