13 dead and 11 injured persons have so far been retrieved from the debris of a 3-storey medicine factory building that collapsed due to a cylinder/boiler blast at Multan Road n Lahore Monday morning.

According to Rescue 1122 officials, the ten dead included nine women, two men and a teenager, while all 11 injured had been shifted to Jinah Hospital. Those who lost their lives were identified as Salma, Fauzia, Nasrin, Maryum, Shakeela Iqbal and two men including Tanveer, Asif, a teenager and an unknown woman.

However, the hospital sources confirmed that four persons with minor injuries had been discharged after first-aid, while a labourer, Mushtaq, was in critical condition owing to severe burn injuries.

Soon after the incident which occurred at around 8:15 am, rescue and police teams rushed to the scene and launched the operation, where a number of residents had already started their efforts to rescue those trapped under the debris.

Adjacent to the factory building, a house also caved in due to resonance of the big bang.