KARAK: A woman and her three children were killed when roof of a room collapsed due to a gas explosion in Banda Daud Shah tehsil here on the night between Thursday and Friday.

The local people said that the family had lighted a gas heater in the room they were sleeping in during the night in Kundi area.

But, as the heater was leaking, it burst and the room caught fire. As a result of the explosion, the roof caved in, burying the woman and her children alive.

Soon after the incident, the area residents rushed to the house and retrieved the bodies from the rubble.

The victims were identified as wife of Faqir Gul, four-year-old Sajjad Ahmad, three-year-old Sudais and one-year-old Saeed.

WATER SHORTAGE: The residents of Karak city have complained about acute shortage of drinking water due to the apathy of the tehsil municipal administration, Karak.

The residents, including political and social activists, told Dawn on Friday that out of the five tube-wells operated by the TMA, three had turned brackish and the remaining could not fulfill the rising demand of thedwellers.

Asif Khan, an official at the local public health engineering department, told this correspondent on contact that the total demand of the Karak city was over 30,000 gallons per day, and the TMA and PHE were together providing only 13,000 gallons water per day to the residents.

He claimed the PHE department was looking into exploring new sources of water to meet the increasing demand of the city dwellers.

The residents complained that the Zebi dam water supply scheme had failed, saying more than 30,000 residents of the city were forced to purchase drinking water.

They demanded that they be supplied water either from Chambi dam or Lawagher dam. They claimed a water project worth Rs180 million had been approved long ago, but work on it could not be started due to unknown reasons.

They also complained about poor drainage system in the city and added that water from houses and rainwater remained stagnant in the streets, which had weakened the foundations of their houses, and had become a breeding place for mosquitoes. Correspondent