Raipur/Durg, May 12 (IANS) Four members of a single family, including a toddler, were charred to death in a domestic cooking gas cylinder blast in Durg district of Chhattisgarh.
The incident occurred on Tuesday in ward number four of the Kumhari area, sending shockwaves through the local community and leaving the entire village in a state of mourning.
According to police officials, the explosion took place suddenly inside a residential house. The force of the blast was so powerful that the building was almost immediately engulfed in a massive fire.
Witnesses stated that the flames spread with such rapidity that the occupants were trapped inside and were unable to find an escape route.
While neighbours heard the cries for help and attempted to intervene, the intensity of the inferno prevented anyone from entering the premises before the situation turned fatal.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai has announced an ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh to the next of kin of the deceased. This assistance, the Chief Minister wrote on his X handle, would be additional to Rs 4 lakh provided under government rules.
He expressed profound grief over the incident and sudden death of the family members and wrote that the news of the demise of four members of the same family due to a short circuit and cylinder explosion in the Kumhari police station area of Durg district is extremely heartbreaking; this tragic incident has left the heart deeply anguished. My deepest condolences are with the bereaved family.
Arrangements for the stay of the affected families and other necessary facilities are being ensured, and instructions have been issued for an investigation into the incident. Emergency services, including the local police and the fire brigade, rushed to the spot after receiving the alert.
Upon extinguishing the fire and entering the skeletal remains of the house, rescue teams recovered four bodies. The victims have been identified as 45-year-old Anil Vaishnav, 18-year-old Vaishnav, 20-year-old Lakshmi Vaishnav, and a one-and-a-half-year-old girl named Gopika.
The loss of the young child has added more grief to the tragedy.
The police have launched a comprehensive investigation to determine the exact cause of the explosion and to verify if there were any technical lapses in the gas connection.
Senior administrative officials and political leaders have expressed their condolences and visited the site to oversee the recovery process.
Health Minister Shyam Bihari Jaiswal, Education Minister Gajendra Yadav, and Member of Parliament Vijay Baghel were among those who took note of the incident. In response to the tragedy, the government has announced a financial assistance package for the surviving relatives of the deceased.
The bodies have been sent for post-mortem examinations as the community struggles to come to terms with the sudden and devastating loss of the Vaishnav family.
–IANS
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