Death toll from Hyderabad cylinder blast soars to 18

• Two people, aged 2 and 35, are in critical condition. 
• A total of five injured people are under treatment.
• Tragic explosion occurred on Thursday last week.

KARACHI: The death toll from the deadly cylinder blast in Hyderabad's Preetabad has soared to 18, officials in the port city said early on Tuesday.

According to data from Karachi's Civil Hospital, five injured are under treatment which include two-year-old Haram Ashraf and 35-year-old Ashraf Hussain who are in critical condition. 

The other injured people are five-year-old Kinza Zeeshan, six-year-old Aliya M Farrukh, and nine-year-old Faizan Ashraf. 

The tragic explosion occurred on Thursday last week at a shop of liquefied petroleum gas (LNG) cylinders in the Preetabad area of Hyderabad. 

When people moved towards the shop to put out the fire after the first blast at 6pm, another loud explosion took place, which engulfed the shop in flames and caused fires in some adjacent houses and shops in the densely populated area of the city.

Initially, two deaths and 49 injuries were reported. Those with serious injuries were shifted to the Civil Hospital Hyderabad, Combined Military Hospital and Civil Hospital Karachi.

According to eyewitnesses, one of the fires also burned a rickshaw and injured several passers-by. 

People sitting in houses around the shop suffered burn injuries as well. They said the fire brigade reached the scene 40 minutes after the first explosion.