Daltonganj LPG Cylinder Blast Injures Four, Illegal Storage Suspected

Daltonganj: Four people were injured in a suspected LPG cylinder explosion followed by a fire in the basement of a house where cylinders were stocked at Bairya More in Daltonganj on Sunday around 2.30 pm.

However, officials said the exact cause of the blast and the number of cylinders involved remain unclear.A local resident said the explosion was so loud that the area around the site almost shook because of the impact.Palamu district fire officer Albert Tigga said fire tenders were rushed to the spot and the blaze was brought under control before it could spread. “The fire was intense, but we managed to contain it,” he said.

Tigga added that although they received information about an LPG cylinder blast, no wreckage or debris of any cylinder was found at the site. “It is puzzling. We found around 35–45 cylinders stacked in the basement, but it is yet to be ascertained whether they were empty or filled,” he said.Deputy superintendent of police (Sadar) Rajeev Ranjan also said police could not find any pieces of a cylinder at the site.Town police station officer-in-charge Jyoti Lal Rajwar said four people sustained multiple burn injuries while they were reportedly present in the basement during the incident.

The injured were identified as Dharmender, Mukesh, Alok and Vikram.All four were initially taken to MMCH Daltonganj. Later, Mukesh, Alok and Vikram were shifted to a multi-speciality hospital in Nawa Toli, while Dharmender remained at MMCH.Rajwar said the cylinders belonged to a Kutmu-based gas agency under the Bishrampur police sub-division and were allegedly stored illegally. “The storage and trading of cylinders at the site appear to be illegal,” he said.Police said the exact cause of the explosion and fire is yet to be ascertained. Preliminary findings also indicate several safety violations, including storage of cylinders in an unventilated basement in a congested residential and commercial area without fire safety measures.