Rourkela: A woman was killed while 10 people suffered serious burns following an explosion at the Telugu slum near Madhusudanpalli here in Sundargarh district Monday. Two of the injured are serious.
Around 20 houses were gutted in the explosion. The condition of two was critical and they were rushed to Ispat General Hospital (IGH).
The deceased was identified as Rekha Srivastav, daughter-in-law of Jabalal Srivastav, the owner of the house in which the explosion took place.
The incident occurred at around 12:15 pm. Fire fighters failed to douse the flames even after five hours when this report was filed.
According to sources, a gas cylinder and firecrackers stored in the house exploded due to unknown reasons. Soon the fire spread and engulfed nearby houses in the locality. The blast was so severe that it tore off the plaster and ceilings of nearby houses.
After the explosion a portion of the house’s wall caved in on Rekha, leading to her death on the spot. Another daughter-in-law of the house owner suffered serious injuries in the mishap.
Sources said Srivastav has a puja items store in the local market. Locals suspect that he had stored explosives and puja items in his house.
DIG Kabita Jalan and SP Umashankar Das, senior fire official Binod Singh and others rushed to the village.
Sources said some people were suspected to be trapped under the debris and a rescue operation was launched by the fire service personnel.
PNN