Over 30 persons, including seven policeman sustained burn injuries in a fire incident caused by a cylinder blast around 2.30am on Saturday in Ward No. 24 of Sahebganj locality under Nagar police station of Bihar’s Aurangabad district, 14 0km south-west of Patna, police said.
Among the injured, 10 are stated to be critical and have been referred to specialised centres for treatment, police said. Some patients were also shifted to nearby private clinics. The incident happened due to gas leakage when members of a family were engaged in making Prasad for Chhath puja, and soon the fire engulfed the house.
Aurangabad superintendent of police (SP) Kantesh Kumar Mishra said that all the 10 critically injured including three policemen have been sent to bigger specialised centres for treatment.
The house owner Anil Goswami said that they were on the roof of the house and when they heard about gas leakage, they rushed downstairs. “My wife does Chhath and was preparing Prasad. As soon as we reached downstairs, we saw fire and soon there was a blast in the cylinder,” he added.
The four-day Chhath puja began on Friday.
As the flames enveloped the house, the locals got engaged in fire fighting, while the police on patrolling duty also reached there. As soon as water was sprayed, the cylinder exploded, causing injury to policemen as well as locals.
M Mujaideen, the constable with the patrolling party, said they rushed to the house on getting information about the fire incident. “By the time we reached there, fire had spread. We tried to extinguish the fire with a water pipe but soon the cylinder exploded,” he added.
Mujaideen also sustained burn injuries in the incident along with others. All the injured have been shifted to Aurangabad Sadar hospital. The injured include woman constable Preeti Kumari, district armed police constable Akhilesh Kumar Jaglal, special auxiliary police jawab Mukund Rao and Jaglal Prasad, Nagar Parishad candidate Akhilesh Odiya, Rajiv Kumar, Shabdir, Aslam, Sudarshan, and others.
Nagar police station sub-inspector Vinay Kunar Singh said that the locals informed the police about the fire incident and the police team reached the spot to extinguish fire. “However, the sudden blast led to injuries and panic spread,” he added.