Gas leak blast kills family of six in southwest Pakistan — police

In this representational photo, Pakistani volunteers carry a dead body onto an ambulance outside a hospital in Quetta on April 12, 2019. (AFP/File)

• Fire started when one family member tried to ignite heater connected to leaking cylinder
• Relatives of victims transferred bodies to Quetta Civil Hospital, according to hospital spokesperson

QUETTA: A gas explosion in southwest Pakistan killed a family of six, including four children, police said Sunday.

The husband, wife, and their four children died at their home late Saturday night in Quetta’s Satellite Town area. The fire started when one member of the family tried to ignite a heater that was connected to a leaking cylinder.

The children were aged between 4 and 14. Nobody from the family survived.

Relatives of the victims transferred the bodies to Quetta Civil Hospital, said Dr. Waseem Baig, a spokesman for the hospital.

Temperatures in Quetta, Balochistan province, can drop to as low as minus 7 degrees Celsius (19 Fahrenheit) at night, with most households relying on gas cylinders for warmth because they lack access to a main supply.