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U.P.: LPG cylinders blast after fire in Kanpur building, none hurt
Panic gripped posh residential cluster Bihari Lal Estate here after five cooking gas (LPG) cylinders exploded one after the other after a fire broke out on the third floor of a multi-storey building in early hours of Friday, said fire officer Pradeep Sharma
Panic gripped posh residential cluster Bihari Lal Estate here after five cooking gas (LPG) cylinders exploded one after the other after a fire broke out on the third floor of a multi-storey building in early hours of Friday, said fire officer Pradeep Sharma.
The building was damaged in the explosions but no one was injured. The families living in the building and in the adjacent ones ran to safety in time, Sharma added. The fire department official said it took six fire tenders two hours to control the fire which is suspected to have broken out due to a short circuit.
The building, where the fire broke out, houses a coconut oil making factory where cosmetic items are also manufactured. Local residents are demanding the factory be shut down as it poses a risk to their lives. One local Manoj Saraswat claimed people here had complained to the authorities concerned about the factory being run in residential area but nothing happened.
“It is sheer luck that a major tragedy just averted. Every time, we cannot be this lucky. The administration must act,” he said. The fire was reported to La Touche Road fire station at 2.30am on the third floor of the building which belongs to one Virendra Gupta.
Gupta has three buildings in which he has several tenants. The presence of oil and inflammable chemicals caused the fire to spread rapidly in the building and the basement of an adjacent building.
One Abhishek Kapoor, who lives nearby, said the cylinders began exploding within 15 minutes after the fire broke out. “We all went down on the road out of panic. The firemen somehow managed to retrieve eight cylinders from the buildings and cooled them down,” he said.
