Labourers at a scrap yard in B T Mill Area on Ummarkhayyam Road in Tilak Nagar were engaged in crushing containers of body spray when the blast occurred around 1.45 pm. The deceased have been identified as Babu alias Iqbal (55) Haleem Nagar, Salim (24) autorickshaw driver, resident of Pulikeshi Road and Syed Abdul Majid (60), of C V Road. He is also the business partner of the scrap shop. The identity of the other victim is yet to be ascertained. The injured are:Wasim (12) of Rajivnagar, alleged to be a child labour, Nayaz (39) of Ghousianagar, Chand Pasha (25) of Kesare, Tanveer (22) of Sunni Chowka, Akram Pasha (30) of Pulikeshi Road, Zaheer Pasha (45) of Rajiv Nagar and Shahabuddin (40).
The first four injured persons are undergoing treatment at K R Hospital, and Akram Pasha and Shahabuddin are admitted at Mission Hospital. Zaheer Pasha, another partner, who has suffered severe head injuries has been rushed to Nimhans, Bangalore.
A doctor at K R Hospital said the injured have suffered burns between 40 and 60 degrees. Among them the condition of the boy is critical with 60 percent burns.
Akram Pasha, a labourer at the yard, told media that Salim had brought the unsold and expired body sprays in his autorickshaw. The labourers had been crushing the bottles with a heavy object after drying them in sun, when a huge sound rocked the yard leading to fire. Four were charred to death in no time. It is said that the containers were being crushed for aluminium.
According to sources, apart from scrap yard, a gas welding unit was also being run in the same premises.N R Police have registered a case under Section 304 (negligence) of IPC.