- Three gas pipelines blown up in Rahim Yar Khan
- Sui gas MD says incident has caused low gas pressure across country
Unidentified Baloch militants blew up three major gas pipelines passing from the Rangpur area of Rahim Yar Khan district late on Sunday night, prompting a blaze that quickly besieged a nearby populated area and causing a massive shortfall in gas supply across the province and several other parts of the country.
According to details, residents of the area were preparing themselves for the night when they heard twin blasts. The panicked locals rushed out of their homes and saw a massive fireball reaching out for the sky. They rushed towards the site and saw that various sections of the three pipelines – measuring 24inches in diameter, 18 inches and 16 inches respectively had blown up into pieces.
Police and Sui gas officials rushed to the site to investigate the scene. They asked the area residents to shift to safer places as the blaze was spreading.
The Balochistan Republican Army, a Baloch militant outfit, has accepted responsibility of the blasts.
Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited Managing Director Arif Hameed, meanwhile told reporters in Lahore that the pipelines supplied gas to various cities in Punjab including Lahore, Faisalabad, Rahim Yar Khan, Multan and Bahawalpur.
He said that it would take at least 36 hours for them to fix the broken pipelines and restore gas supply. “Until then I appeal to my fellow citizens to avoid unnecessary use of gas heaters, stoves and water heating geysers. There is a shortfall of 630 million cubic feet…the incident has led to a very low gas pressure across the country,” he added.
Hameed said the incident was a blatant act of terrorism and the pipelines had been targeted after careful planning.
