Garden Reach: 22 injured as 2 LPG cylinders blast in a flat

kolkata: About 22 persons, including four minors, were injured after two LPG cylinders exploded inside a flat in Garden Reach on Thursday evening.

Among the 22 injured persons, 19 were rushed to the SSKM Hospital while others were rushed to a private hospital in Ekbalpore where they are undergoing treatment.

Mayor of Kolkata, Firhad Hakim, went to the SSKM Hospital and took stock of the situation. He sought information from the doctors. Later, Hakim said: “This is a very unfortunate incident. Only one of the injured persons is critical. I have talked to the doctors, they have said that the injured persons will have to be admitted for about four days depending on their injuries.”

According to sources, around 5:45 pm on Thursday a fire broke out inside a flat on the ground floor of a building located at the B-177, Bichalighat Road while one of the residents of the flat was cooking. Seeing the flames, local people started spraying water to douse the fire. But the intensity of the flames was increasing rapidly.

Within a few moments the fire touched one of the LPG cylinders which subsequently exploded. Another LPG cylinder which was kept inside the flat also exploded.

While most of the injured persons suffered only burn injuries, a few of them also suffered injuries as the broken pieces of the LPG cylinders hit them. Three fire tenders were pressed into action and the fire was doused after almost four hours. Police informed that the incident spot has been put on guard for forensic experts to collect samples.

However, during preliminary investigations, police have found pieces of LPG cylinders that had exploded.