E-Paper
Bettiah: 24 vehicles gutted in fire at gas godown
A major mishap was averted after a gas godown caught fire near Sant Ghat under Bairiya police station area at the outskirts of Bettiah on Thursday night, causing explosion of more than 100 LPG cylinders that gutted and about two dozen vehicles
A major mishap was averted after a gas godown caught fire near Sant Ghat under Bairiya police station area at the outskirts of Bettiah on Thursday night, causing explosion of more than 100 LPG cylinders that gutted and about two dozen vehicles.
Sources quoting the eye-witnesses said the fire broke out in the premises of a gas godown and soon engulfed cylinder-laden vehicles parked on the premises. “It was around 11.45 pm when we heard a deafening explosion. But before we could understand what had happened, the entire premises of the godown was on fire as cylinders kept exploding and metal pieces flying across,” said Rajesh Jaiswal, a resident of Sant Ghat.
“The explosion was heard about a kilometre away,” said another villager in Bairiya block.
For about 45 minutes, the gas godown resembled a fireball, threatening to spread in the nearby area where a petrol pump is located barely 200 metres away. It took the fire brigade about an hour to douse the blaze with help of eight fire tenders, three of which brought from neighbouring East Champaran.
Later, Kundan Kumar, district magistrate (DM) of West Champaran, said, “No causalities were reported in the incident.”
Nandkishore Choudhary, the owner of the gas agency, put the damages caused at over ₹50 lakh. “Besides, about 24 vehicles and about 300 cylinders are missing or damaged in the incident. The fire has also caused extensive damages to the godown’s roof and boundary wall,” Choudhary said.
“In all, 12 delivery vans, 10 others carriers and two motorcycles were found to be completely gutted in the course of our preliminary investigation,” said Dhushyant Kumar, station house officer (SHO), Bairiya police station.
“The exact cause of the fire could not be known immediately. We are trying to ascertain the same,” said Vidhyanath Paswan, subdivisional magistrate (SDM), Bettiah.
