At least 15 children and a teacher were killed in a school van gas cylinder blast that took place early Saturday morning in Gujrat, a district in Pakistan's eastern province of Punjab, according to several media reports.
The blast injured 10 other people, including a driver.
The reports suggest that the heat probably caused the explosion.
The reports said that many admitted into the hospital suffered burn injuries and at least five children were critically wounded and the death toll may further rise.
The incident took place at about 7:40 a.m. (local time) when a school van was heading towards a private school in Gujrat after collecting students from four nearby villages in Gujrat, a district lying some 170 km southeast of the country's capital Islamabad.
There were an estimated 25 people on board and the students were aged between 8 and 12, the reports said.
Many vehicles in Pakistan are powered by compressed natural gas due to cheap price. However, because of the poor manufacturing quality of gas cylinders, gas cylinder blasts frequently occur in the country.
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