At least 16 people, including children, were killed Thursday when an explosion caused a building to collapse in Pakistan’s southern megacity of Karachi, officials said.
More than a dozen people were injured in the incident in the Soldier Bazaar neighbourhood of Karachi at around 4 a.m. local time, when Muslim families start preparing sahur, the pre-sunrise meal eaten during Ramadan.
"Sixteen people, including women and children, have been killed and 13 others injured," the provincial rescue agency's spokesman Hassan Khan said.
The three-story building located in the crowded neighborhood collapsed after an "unknown" explosion, he said.
"Apparently, it was a gas explosion, but the investigation will reveal the actual cause of the incident," senior city official Nasrullah Abbasi told AFP.
Last year in July, 27 people were killed and 10 injured, after a five-story building collapsed in Karachi's impoverished area of Lyari.
Around 600 buildings were declared dangerous in Karachi by the government.
Roof and building collapses are common across Pakistan, mainly because of poor safety standards and shoddy construction materials in the South Asian country of more than 240 million people.
But Karachi, home to more than 20 million, is especially notorious for poor construction, illegal extensions, ageing infrastructure, overcrowding, and lax enforcement of building regulations.
