Cylinder blasts: 4 burnt alive

By Our Staff Reporter

SRIKAKULAM, DEC. 4. Four persons, including three children, were burnt alive in a fire mishap caused by LPG cylinder blasts at Mahalakshminagar, a working class colony, here this afternoon.

According to eyewitnesses, a cylinder blast occurred in a hut, where a hospital worker lives, around 3-30 p.m. and even as the fire was spreading cylinders went off in a series. At least four cylinder blasts occurred, according to sources. The fire spread very fast, leaving little chance for anyone to react. Three children rushed into a dilapidated building of the Fisheries Department, where some families were living, for safety. They were charred there and an old woman was also burnt to death. None could go to their rescue because of the intensity of the heat. A 30-year-old woman and a boy sustained injuries and they were rushed to hospital.

Most of the residents are daily wage earners and rickshawpullers away at work when the tragedy occurred. One of them, P. Bharati, said her six-year-old son, Rambabu, was one of the victims. Wailing inconsolably in the presence of the MLA, Mr. G. Appala Suryanarayana, and the Collector, Dr. K. S. Jawahar Reddy, she fainted. Another woman, Parvati, a daily wage earner and wife of a rickshawpuller, said her 10 and 3-year-old sons - Praveen Kumar and Mahesh respectively - were missing. It would have been worse but for some youths who threw out cylinders from houses into the nearby fields.

The fire engines which rushed to the spot drew water from a nearby fishing tank and began extinguishing flames. The number of families rendered homeless is put at 200.

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Section  : Southern States
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