At least 16 dead as gas explosion collapses building in Pakistan

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

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. Rescuers were still removing rubble to search for any survivors trapped under the debris, he added.

The death toll was initially reported at 13, but Patel said it rose to 16 after three more bodies were pulled out from the rubble.

Stabil.Az