Five members of a family were charred to death and four others were left injured after a gas cylinder exploded inside their house in South-East Delhi's Okhla Phase-I area on Monday night.
The blast took place when the family was busy cooking food for relatives who had come to attend a marriage ceremony scheduled on June 28.
Three women, a six-year-old girl, and a 19-year-old boy lost their lives in the incident. Among the list of injured, three people are said to be in a critical condition at Safdarjung Hospital while one person has been discharged after treatment.
Owing to the wedding, the family had recently bought two extra cylinders.
On Monday night, all the members were busy preparing food when the tragedy took place. The house was full of guests and many had come all the way from Gazipur (UP) to attend the wedding of Ravikant, who drives a tempo for a living. He lives with his family in a shanty located right outside the Tata steel plant at Okhla Phase-I.
Soon after the Haldi ceremony, Ravikant, stepped outside the house to wash off the turmeric while the women stayed inside.
They were engrossed in wedding discussions when the blast caught them unawares.
Jitender (17), one of the relatives was loitering around the house when he noticed the gas leak. The family was cooking vegetables when the leak was detected.
"I tried to rush towards the gas cylinder. In fact, before me, three other people had got their hands on the cylinder but in a matter of seconds, it exploded. They were all caught in the blast," cried Jitender.
He has sustained burn injuries to his leg and was saved because he was outside the blast radius. His 45-year-old father Surender who was calmly sipping tea outside the house also received severe injuries.
However, the women of the family were trapped inside a room which was used as a makeshift space for wedding accessories, gifts and several packets of rice. They were unable to escape as there was only one exit which was blocked by a wall of fire. All of them were charred to death.
"I had gone out to get water. The entire house burned down," sobbed Renu, the sole surviving member of the family.
Later, the fire officials reached the spot along with the ambulance. Following this, the Inferno was doused within half an hour, claimed DFS officials.
The district DCP Romil Baaniaya had also reached the accident site along with all the senior officials.