LPG cylinder blast in Mumbai’s Lalbag: 62-year-old dead, 9 critical

According to Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB), four houses were impacted due to the blast and electrical wiring and installations, clothes and other household items caught fire

A 62-year-old woman died, while 15 others were injured on Sunday after an LPG cylinder exploded on the second floor of Sarabhai building, a ground-plus-four-storey structure, in Lalbag at 7.23am.

A resident of Sarabhai building checks the damage caused by the cylinder blast, on Sunday. (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT Photo)

Eleven injured are undergoing treatment at King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital of whom five are in critical condition, while the condition of six others is stable. Four others who are injured are admitted to Masina Hospital and they are all in a critical state, the civic body’s disaster control room said. All the four critical patients at Masina Hospital sustained 70% to 95% burns.

The 62-year-old victim, Sushila Bangre, was declared dead by KEM Hospital around 7.45pm, said the control room.

According to Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB), four houses were impacted due to the blast and electrical wiring and installations, clothes and other household items caught fire. The impact of the blast was so strong that a wall between the two houses also collapsed, said MFB officials. The fire due to the blast was extinguished by 7.50am.

Kailash Hiwrale, chief fire officer of MFB, said, “We are currently investigating all aspects from the fire safety point of view for the building. It is said that there was a wedding in one of the houses where the cylinder blast took place, but we are yet to take statements of the victims. Currently, they are admitted in the hospital, and we will take their statements after the family is in the correct frame of mind to give it.”

Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar visited the site of the accident and directed the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) to undertake repair works for all the houses. Till the repair works are done, people from nearby houses will stay at a nearby hotel. MFB officials said they have informed officials concerned to ensure that the structural stability audit of the building is done to ascertain whether the building is habitable or not.

“Ten patients had sustained 50-80% burns, of whom one died. Two have got minor burns. All might have inhaled smoke during the fire. The patients are being attended by a group of doctors including general and plastic surgeons including orthopaedics, chest specialists, ophthalmologists among others. All emergency preparations have been taken,” said Dr Hemant Deshmukh, dean of the hospital.

Four patients, who belong to the same family, have been taken to Masina Hospital and have been admitted to the hospital’s specialised burns unit.

The burns are 94.5% burns for the father, 92% for the son and 60% for the mother and daughter. All four are critical, but at present haemodynamically-stable as per the hospital.

“The patients are under the care of our burn specialist doctors and the best of treatment is being offered to them. The hospital has ensured that all safety protocols relating to Covid-19 and burns are being followed strictly and effectively,” as per a spokesperson from the hospital.

This was the second such incident in the past two weeks. Earlier, on November 24, two people died and three injured after a fire broke out due to cylinder blast at a chawl in Sakinaka.

Pednekar had, at that time, told HT, “Frequent cylinder blasts and citizens losing lives due to it is one of the main reasons why we should aim at having piped gas for all households. I know it is a process and will not happen overnight, but piped gas is much safer than cylinder gas supply. We can start by making it compulsory in new constructions.”