Death toll of gas reservoir blast in Afghan capital rises to 8

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Kabul, July 5 (Xinhua-ANI): The death toll from Wednesday’s propane gas reservoir explosion has risen to eight, a health official said Thursday.

“The death toll of a gas reservoir explosion which broke out in Pul-e-Charkhi industrial park east of Kabul late Wednesday has raised to eight killed and 83 other injured,” a spokesman for the Afghan Public Health Ministry, Ghulam Sakhi Gargar, told Xinhua.

He said the number of the deaths could further go up as some 20 injured remain in critical conditions with severe burns.

Meantime, General Mohammad Zahir, head of Criminal Investigation Department of Kabul Police, told local media that 155 people were injured in the incident.

The fire also damaged several industrial buildings and companies and residential houses around the area.

An electrical short circuit is believed to be the cause of the explosion, police said.

The tragedy was considered one of the worst fire incidents in Kabul in recent years.

It is the second fire in Kabul within a week. In the previous incident a gas cylinder explosion caused a huge fire in a market in Khir Khana area leaving three people dead and injuring 28 others on Tuesday. (Xinhua-ANI)