Five of a family severely injured in LPG cylinder blast

Five people of a family, including an eight-year-old boy, sustained severe burns when an LPG gas cylinder exploded on Friday.

The blast occurred when the gas agency employee was repairing the leaking cylinder. The victims have filed a complaint against the gas agency for their negligence that caused the accident on the first floor of BNS Complex at TRS Lane in Nagarathpet.

The injured include 69-year-old building owner Krishnaiah Shetty, his wife B R Radha, sons Gajendra, 38, a techie and Gaurav K, 28, a businessman, and his eight-year-old grandson Dakshin Trijal.

The Halasuru Gate police received a medical-legal case (MLC) report from the burns ward at Victoria Hospital regarding the five victims. Police went to the hospital at 10.30 pm and took a statement from Gaurav.

Gaurav told police that his family has been customers of Madhu Gas Agency for several years. The agency deals with Indane LPG. When they tried replacing the empty cylinder with the one they received from the agency, they noticed the gas leak when the regulator was put on. They removed the connection and complained to the agency.

When Gurupad, an agency employee, visited the house at 2 pm, the family asked him to replace the cylinder, but he said he would repair the cylinder instead. As he was repairing it, the cylinder exploded. All the five members of the family and Gurupad were injured. The four-floor BNS Complex was damaged in the blast.

The injured were rushed to Victoria Hospital. While Gaurav and Trijal had surgeries on the same day, Gajendra underwent surgery on Thursday. On Friday, Radha had her surgery and Krishnaiah’s operation was scheduled for Saturday.

The condition of Krishnaiah, Radha and Gaurav is critical. Besides burns, all five have suffered fractures. They have been shifted from Victoria to St John’s, St Martha’s and Apollo hospitals.

Gajendra told DH that Gurupad insisted on repairing the cylinder when the family asked for a replacement.

The Halasuru Gate police have taken up a case against Gurupad and agency owner Linith Clark.

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