Hyderabad: Five people, including a minor, suffered burns when gas leak from a domestic cylinder triggered a fire and subsequent blast in a single-room flat at an apartment complex at Gouthami Nagar Colony, Erragadda, on Saturday.
Two of them, a couple, are undergoing treatment for burns at Gandhi Hospital, while the remaining three sustained relatively less severe injuries and were declared out of danger, the Borabanda police said. The injured couple was identified as Prasad, 29, and Bhavana, 22. The remaining three injured included a 16-year-old girl, Mahalakshmi, and her parents.
Around 2:30am, a cylinder , at Prasad’s flat started leaking on the ground floor. “After the two fell asleep, the gas completely filled the 10×10 ft room due to limited ventilation. In the adjacent room, another family was living. The partition wall, about four inches thick, collapsed due to the impact of the explosion, and the fire subsequently spread to that room as well. “We suspect that the blast occurred when they switched on power after waking up,” Borabanda police station house officer M Surender told TOI.
He added that parts of the building where the blast occurred were also partially damaged. While fire and police personnel rushed to the scene, officers also sought assistance from the bomb disposal squad to examine the cylinder after the rescue was completed.
Meanwhile, a fire tender from SR Nagar arrived at the scene and doused the blaze in less than an hour. People residing in the building also rushed to safeguard themselves during the incident.
