Five injured in explosion while filling fireworks into Ramlila effigies in Sahibabad

None of the injured has been able to explain the sequence of events and no complaint has been filed so far, said police.

Ghaziabad:Five people were injured in an explosion while filling fireworks into effigies being prepared for the Ramlila in Sahibabad’s Lajpat Nagar on Monday morning, police said.

UP police and NDRF teams conduct a search operation at the spot in Ghaziabad on Monday. (Sakib Ali/HT PHOTO)

Police said the incident took place around 9am at a community centre near the Ramlila ground, where workers were preparing effigies. The centre was being used to store the effigies.

“Five people, including the contractor, were working at the site when fireworks stored there exploded. The blast damaged parts of the community centre and caused the outer wall to collapse,” said Amit Saxena, ACP of Sahibabad.

According to the police, the five injured were identified as Anil Singh, 45, his son Rishabh Singh, 30, Raju (single name), 34, Rajat Kumar, 30, and Mahendra Kumar, 36. All five are from Pilkhuwa in the Hapur district.

The Ramlila organisers had given Anil the contract for making effigies.

“It is not clear what triggered the explosion. There is no evidence to suggest that fireworks were being prepared at the site. Initial information indicates that the workers were stuffing fireworks into the parts of effigies when the explosion occurred,” the ACP said.

None of the injured has been able to explain the sequence of events and no complaint has been filed so far.

The centre is surrounded by residential houses.

“We were about to leave for work when we heard a huge explosion from the community centre. The sound came three to four times and shocked everyone,” said Amit Kumar, a resident.

Another resident, Vivek Rawat, said, “The collapsed wall fell on our car parked nearby and damaged its front portion.”

Fire department officials said they received information about a fire at a firecracker shop around 9.26am. However, it was later found that the incident had taken place at the community centre.

“The fire was quickly brought under control. An inspection later found that the explosion involved fireworks being used for effigies,” the official added.