1 killed, two hurt in explosion at CNG station in Mansa

Eyewitnesses said there was no fire at the filling station, located in a densely-populated area near the bus stand. After the blast, the police cordoned off the area

Bathinda An employee at a compressed natural gas (CNG) filling station in Mansa was killed and two others gravely injured in an explosion at the station on Sunday evening. The victim, Vikram Singh, was filling gas in an Alto car when the explosion took place at the facility named Jagdish Oil Company. The injured were rushed to the Mansa Civil Hospital.

The victim, Vikram Singh, was filling gas in an Alto car when the explosion took place at the facility named Jagdish Oil Company, located near the bus stand. (Sanjeev Kumar/HT)

Sources said the victim, killed on the spot, was thrown up over 20-feet due to the high-pressure of the gas. The roof of one of the cars was also blown off, with another vehicle also damaged. Eyewitnesses said there was no fire at the filling station, located in a densely-populated area near the bus stand. After the blast, the police cordoned off the area.

Mansa senior superintendent of police (SP) Narinder Bhargav said investigation was on to ascertain the cause of the blast. SP (detective) Digvijay Kapil told reporters that two Alto cars bearing Haryana registration numbers were in queue to get gas, when the explosion happened.

Police sources said a CCTV recorder at the filling station had been taken into custody and footage from cameras in the vicinity are being scanned.

Filling station owner Jagmohan Kumar said, “More lives would have been lost, if we had not followed the protocol related to the filling of gas, which mandates that no one must to be present inside the vehicle, when gas is being filled.”