The accident took place at the Khushab heavy water plant, which had been shut down for annual maintenance, the commission said, adding that it was immediately evacuated and there was no threat to the public.

"(The) situation was immediately brought under control and two workers lost their lives while controlling the incident," the commission said in a statement.

"There is no threat to public life as all the leaking gas has been burnt in the flare system of the plant," it added.

The town of Khushab is located some 240 kilometres (150 miles) southwest of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

Orders have been issued to find out the cause of accident, the statement said. It did not give further details but private television channels said a blast occurred in the hydrogen phosphate cylinders used in the production of heavy water.

Pakistan became the world's first Muslim nuclear power in 1998 when it carried out A-bomb tests in response to detonations by rival India.

The man credited with this, Abdul Qadeer Khan, told AFP on Sunday that he took the blame four years ago for passing atomic secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya in order to "save his country".

Khan has been under effective house arrest since confessing on television in 2004 to running a proliferation network.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Monday he favoured lifting restrictions on Khan.

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