Delhi: Two firemen killed, two injured in Vikaspuri cylinder blast

Cylinder blast at a restaurant in West Delhi killed two firemen and left two others critically injured. The blast led to a fire which was later doused.

Two firemen from Delhi Fire Services (DFS) were killed while their two colleagues were critically injured in a cylinder blast at a restaurant in West Delhi’s Vikaspuri on Friday morning. A fire broke out due to the blast and other firemen took around an hour to douse the flames.

Two firemen were killed and two others were injured in a cylinder blast at Vikaspuri on Friday.(Vipin Kumar / HT PHOTO)

According to the fire control room, they received a call around 5.30 am about smoke coming out from Chatkora food and snacks corner in H Block, Lal Market in Vikaspuri. Three fire tenders along with around 10 firemen reached the restaurant.

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“As the smoke was coming out from the locked restaurant, our firemen started breaking open the shutter. While they were trying to pull the shutter up, a gas cylinder inside the shop went off. Four of our firemen suffered serious injuries,” said Atul Garg, chief fire officer.

While two of them died on the spot, the other two were rushed to BL Kapoor hospital for medical attention. Their condition was stated to be critical. The two firemen killed were identified as Hari Singh Meena and Hari Om. The injured were identified as Navin and Ravinder Singh.

The family members of the victims were informed about the tragedy. The bodies have been kept at Deen Dayal Upadhyay hospital.

Two firemen lost their lives after a gas cylinder went off inside a restaurant in Vikaspuri.

According to Garg, there were four gas cylinders, two commercial and two domestic, at the restaurant. “Prime facie one of them exploded due to gas leak. What actually triggered the blast is a matter of probe. We have formed a team to probe the incident,” added the chief fire officer.

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A police officer said that the restaurant where the blast took place sold momos and other snacks. “We will find out if the restaurant was running illegally and it’s owner had compromised with safety and security measures,” said the officer.

“Two firemen have lost their lives in the incident. We are registering a case of deaths due to negligence. A probe will be done to establish as to whose negligence resulted in the tragedy. More sections of IPC may be added as and when our probe progresses,” said Vijay Kumar, deputy commissioner of police (west).