Cylinder blast flattens house, 5 dead

Four of family among victims; 16 people, all from Chapra in Bihar, lived in same rented house.

Five persons, including four members of a family, were killed and eight others injured when a cooking gas cylinder explosion triggered a house collapse at Mundka railway colony in west Delhi on Wednesday morning.

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Police said prima facie the incident took place when someone in the family turned on the television set, which ignited a leaking gas cylinder. The house collapsed due to the impact of the cylinder explosion, V Renganathan, additional commissioner of police (west), said.

The victims, all labourers, were living in the three-room-rented house for the past year. Sixteen people, all from Chapra district of Bihar, lived in the house.

The Delhi government has announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh for each for adults who died in the incident and Rs 1 lakh for dead minors.

“The exact reason could be ascertained only after we record the statement of the injured and get the forensic report. We have registered a case under sections 285 (negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter) and 304 A (death due to negligence) against unknown persons,” said Renganathan.

The deceased are Hema, 8, her brother Avinash, 12, their cousin Santosh, 18, their uncle Supan Singh, 60 and Mohan, 32.

The injured are: Hema’s parents — Badri Singh and Pushpa Devi, her sister Anjali, 10 and brother Bittu, 15, Ganesh Mandal, 19, Sujai Mandal, 19, Braj Kishor, 20 and Devo, 18.

The victims were rescued from the rubble by locals and police personnel and rushed to Sanjay Gandhi Memorial hospital. Five of them were declared brought dead. Six of the eight inured were discharged after treatment.

“The house was reduced to rubble and almost all my relatives were trapped inside. I screamed for help and one of my neighbours called the police. By the time, the rubble was cleared my husband and my 18-year-old son were already dead,” said Sheela, wife of Supan Singh. Badri Singh, an injured, said, “I thought it was an earthquake.”

One Rajesh, a resident of Bahadurgarh in Haryana who works for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, owns the house.