Reporting snapshot · 16 April 2026. Casualty figures and the precise cause of the pipeline burst are subject to clarification; this article reflects the verified facts as of day-of reporting.
What happened
A Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) supply line near the Hattar Industrial Estate in Haripur district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Hazara division, ruptured and caught fire late on Thursday 16 April 2026, killing at least eight members of a single household and leaving others injured, officials told Dawn and The Express Tribune.
Haripur Deputy Commissioner Waseem Ahmed told Dawn that the deaths appeared to be caused by suffocation. He separately told the media that three to four nearby houses within roughly 200 metres of the factory had been affected by the fire, and that the blaze was brought under control after three hours of coordinated firefighting. The Express Tribune quoted the same deputy commissioner confirming the toll and said the deceased included three children, two girls, two elderly women and one man.
The Express Tribune placed the death toll at eight killed and five injured; Dawn’s Haripur dateline gave eight killed and 11 injured and said three bodies were taken to the district headquarters hospital and five to the rural health centre at Kot Najibullah. Officials in both reports attributed the gap between the two tallies to later arrivals at hospitals and to the time it took to account for displaced family members.
Where the fire started
SNGPL official Muhammad Amir told Dawn that the affected supply line was a 16-inch-diameter pipeline feeding gas to industrial estates as far north as Abbottabad. It ran close to the 400 residential quarters of the Hattar Industrial Estate. Area residents had reported a gas explosion and a large fire at around 6:30pm, after which SNGPL field teams reached the site and found the pipeline still alight. Mr Amir said the cause had not yet been determined, but the gas supply was cut off to the pipeline and the blaze took at least two hours to extinguish because of the volume of gas still in the line.
District Police Officer Shafiullah Khan, who supervised the operation alongside the deputy commissioner, told Dawn that the precise cause would emerge from an investigation but that circumstantial evidence pointed to gas pressure causing an explosion in the supply line. He said the site had been searched to confirm that no one remained trapped. Rescue 1122 and firefighters from Mansehra, Abbottabad, Mardan and Swabi joined the local teams.
Official response
KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi expressed sorrow over the loss of life and said the provincial government stood with the bereaved families and was ensuring the best treatment for the injured. Special Assistant to the Chief Minister on Information Shafi Jan said Rescue 1122 and other agencies had launched relief activities immediately and that workers from nearby districts had been involved. Gas supply to the Hazara division was suspended following the incident.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a synthesis of published material, not eyewitness reporting. Sources were reviewed on 2026-04-16.
- Dawn — 8 killed, 11 injured as gas supply line catches fire in KP's HaripurPublished 16 April 2026 · Primary: Haripur DC Waseem Ahmed, DPO Shafiullah Khan, Dr Munawwar Afridi (DHQ/RHC Kot Najibullah) and SNGPL official Muhammad Amir, with the pipeline's diameter, the time of the report, the gas-cut sequence and the three-hour firefighting window. Also provides the 11-injured figure and the suffocation framing.
- The Express Tribune — Gas pipeline explosion in K-P's Haripur leaves 8 dead, 5 injured: officialsPublished 17 April 2026 · Independent: breakdown of the deceased by age and gender (three children, two girls, two elderly women, one man), the dispatch of fire vehicles from Mansehra/Abbottabad/Mardan/Swabi, the Hazara gas shutdown and KP CM Sohail Afridi's condolence statement.