 A gas explosion tore through a three-story building in Lahore early yesterday killing at least 28 people and wounding 20, police and rescue officials said. The dead included four women and two children. Rescuers were searching for people trapped under the rubble of the collapsed building, located in a residential suburb of the city, police said. The building that also housed workers' quarters, a gas cylinder storage facility in the basement and low-end apartments, collapsed in the blast. City police chief Aftab Cheema said it was not immediately clear what triggered the explosion. Survivors, some in critical condition, said that gas cylinders had been stored in the building's basement. Cheema said eight of the people killed were from the same family, who were sleeping in an apartment on the building's second story. Three or four nearby homes and several vehicles were damaged. | Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. And sometimes it should stay unlit. |
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