All seven hospitalised after last week’s cylinder blast at Panchkula’s Sector-10 house are no more. After three deaths last week, four more succumbed to their injuries on Monday, leaving a pall of gloom in the neighbourhood.
The worst came for a commerce professor posted at Chandigarh Government College for Girls in Sector 42, Tarsem Chand Garg, who lost both his sons in a matter of few hours on Monday.
In the afternoon, Garg performed the last rites of his younger son, 22-year-old Anmol Garg, who succumbed to his injuries at Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, he was later left stunned as his elder son, 24-year-old Pranshu Garg, also passed away during treatment at Mohali’s Fortis Hospital due to burn injuries.
World collapsed for Garg: Neighbour
Garg’s neighbour Ved Makkar said Garg had raised both the sons on his own after his wife died around 12 years ago. “His entire world has collapsed with the death of both the boys who were intelligent and were doing extremely well in their professional career,” Makkar said.
{{/usCountry}}Garg’s neighbour Ved Makkar said Garg had raised both the sons on his own after his wife died around 12 years ago. “His entire world has collapsed with the death of both the boys who were intelligent and were doing extremely well in their professional career,” Makkar said.
{{/usCountry}}Anmol had recently graduated in computer engineering from Chandigarh’s PEC University, while Pranshu was an alumnus of IIM, Indore, and was working in a leading bank in Mumbai. He had come to Panchkula to celebrate Diwali with his family. But fate had something else in store.
Both the brothers were part of the crowd that had gathered outside their immediate neighbouring house number 702 after they smoke emanated from inside.
The house owner, 34-year-old software engineer Ajit Chaudhary, had rushed back from the market after he was told about the smoke. As he opened the door in the presence of the neighbours, the cylinder blasted, injuring seven, including Ajit.
Spate of Deaths
On Monday, apart from the two boys, a 30-year-old manager of an IT firm Jignesh Thanki also succumbed to his injuries.
Thanki originally hailed from Gujarat’s Porbandar area, and was living here as a tenant in the house of Ajiit’s neighbor Hem Raj Sharma, who was the first casualty of the blast on Friday.
Another area resident, 62-year-old RK Singhal, who was formerly a manager in a steel company, also passed away during treatment at Mohali’s Fortis hospital on Monday
Avoidable tragedy?
While police are still trying to ascertain how the cylinder blast took place, area police post in-charge Sukhjeet Singh said the mishap could have been avoided if the residents had waited for the fire brigade to arrive which was already alerted about the incident.
Also, the ambulance could not reach the spot on time due to haphazard parking inside Sector 10 at night, thereby leading to delay in taking injured to hospital