Police have arrested the owners of a hotel in the Bilal Colony of Karachi's Korangi area after nine people sustained injuries following an explosion in a sewerage line upon which the eatery was built, Korangi Senior Superintendent of Police Faisal Bashir Memon told Dawn.com on Friday.

       The explosion occurred on Thursday night and according to a police statement issued at the time, "the tea hotel constructed on the sewerage line collapsed" as a result of the blast, causing "milk and hot water to land [sic] on passers-by".

       According to the statement, the injured people included three children. However, the statement did not confirm whether the injured were passers-by or visitors and staff at the hotel.

       The injured were shifted to Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital, the statement said.

       Today, SSP Memon corroborated these details to Dawn.com, saying that people were having tea sitting on charpoys and chairs and children were playing when the explosion occurred due to the "accumulation of gases" in the sewerage line.

       He said none of the injured suffered life-threatening injuries.

       The SSP further told Dawn.com that the hotel was built four to five years ago and police had registered a case against and arrested the two hotel owners for "their negligence".

       The last time a major incident of similar nature had taken place in Karachi was on December 18, 2021, when an explosion had occurred in a nullah (drain) located underneath a private bank near Paracha Chowk in Shershah, leaving 17 dead.