Shell Pakistan rejects claims blast was caused by bad cylinder

Police and Shell experts combed through the debris of petrol station and its adjacent shop yesterday in an attempt to find clues for the massive explosion of a day earlier, which wounded 18 people.

However, Shell Pakistan strongly rejected the government claims that the explosion was caused by faulty compressed natural gas (CNG) cylinder or its storage facility.

"Investigation by Shell has revealed that all the CNG compressors, CNG cylinders and fuel storage tanks are intact and not a cause of the explosion," Farooq Rahmatullah, Chairman and Managing Director of Shell Pakistan Ltd, told reporters.

"For CNG, Shell adheres to the standards laid out by the government of Pakistan and also follows the UK and US safety maintenance standards," he said.

But Shell administration also refused to say that it was an act of terror, saying that it was conducting joint investigations with Pakistani authorities to determine the cause of the explosion which also damaged several cars and smashed glass of nearby bungalows in Karachi's posh Defence Housing Authority neighbourhood.

The Sindh provincial government has already declared the explosion was the result of an accident caused by a gas cylinder. But Rehmatullah said all the 40 gas cylinders at the petrol station's premises remain intact.

But he said he does not want to speculate about the cause of explosion. "We have called experts from abroad who will work with Pakistani authorities to determine what caused the explosion."

Karachi had been seen of a series of terrorist attacks, including bombings, during the last two years. Earlier this year 19 Shell and two Caltex petrol pumps were seen small bomb attacks in a single day.

Inspector General of Police Syed Kaman Shah said that most apparently it was an accident, but sabotage could also be not rule out. Authorities had never made such a delay in determining the cause of the blast, which leaves its marks in a very obvious manner.

Police officials say that the Shell administration was reluctant to declare it an accident. "It means raising security and safety issues at all its petrol stations and installations throughout the country," a senior police official said on the condition of anonymity.