An explosion in a fireworks factory in a house killed eight people in the Pakistani city of Lahore today, police and witnesses said.
Ambulance workers said the blast in a crowded area of the capital of populous Punjab province had also injured four people, none seriously. Rescuers said they had recovered some bodies from beneath the rubble of the collapsed house.
The cause of the blast was not immediately known but police said they believed it was an accident.
Witnesses said there was a powerful explosion that brought the house down and damaged walls of nearby houses in the northern Data Darbar shrine area of the old part of Lahore.