Bengaluru: Boy, 11, dies in explosion at 'illegal' LPG refilling centre

Mahesh was playing outside his home in Guddadahalli, near Hebbal, in northern Bengaluru

A minor boy died in an explosion caused by leaking LPG at an illegal refilling centre on Sunday morning, police said.

Mahesh (11) was playing outside his home in Guddadahalli, near Hebbal, in northern Bengaluru.

The house is located next to a shed where an LPG refilling shop is run. Police say the shop is illegal.

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Even as the boy was busy playing, the shopkeeper — identified as Liyaqat — started transferring LPG from a large cylinder into a smaller one.

The gas transfer went awry as the LPG leaked from the cylinder, causing the explosion. The cylinder flew away, hitting Mahesh. The fire also engulfed him. He suffered serious injuries and died later, said an officer from the Hebbal traffic police station.

Surprisingly, the explosion didn’t damage the shed. The shopkeeper fled from the scene soon after the accident.

Police have booked Liyaqat as well as Ramesh, who owns the shed, for causing death by negligence.

Police are investigating how the cylinder flew away due to the gas leak and how the fire started. A team of forensic science experts visited the accident scene and collected samples for further investigations.

Mahesh’s family is from Yadgir. His parents Mallappa and Saraswati relocated to Bengaluru recently to find jobs as construction workers. The boy was a class 4 student at the government school in Cholanayakanahalli, police said.