08 March,2017 08:36 AM IST | | Shiva Devnath
Among the injured are a fire officer and another man who was trying to help the affected family, but was struck by a flaming log that fell from their home
The family rushed outside the house as the second cylinder burst
All Nallasopara resident Raju Decorator wanted to do was help a family hit by a cylinder blast. But when he went ahead to try and enter the building rescue them, he suffered 40 per cent burns after a blazing log fell on his leg. Apart from Decorator, four others, including a fire officer, have been injured in the incident.
Decorator had gone for his routine walk at 7.30 am to the BMC ground, when he heard a blast on the second floor of the adjacent A-star tower. Assuming that it was a cylinder blast, he approached the building to get a closer look and help the people trapped inside. But when he approached the tower, he was struck by a burning log that fell from the tower. The cylinders had blown up in the second floor flat of a family of four.
Charred remains of the home where the blast occurred
Since it was the time for school, there was chaos in the building, which ended up postponing the fire fighting activities for two hours.
Starts with short circuit
Navin Bagchore, a resident said, "I stay in the same building. First there was a short circuit. As soon as we came to know, we immediately vacated the building and helped everyone do so. When we came out, we heard an explosion on the second floor and the cylinder was thrown out of the window due to the impact. Seven people, including the fire officer received minor injuries and were discharged after treatment. One man, who was on his morning walk, is seriously injured."
Raju Decorator has suffered 40 per cent burns
A-star tower has four buildings. The incident occurred in the second-floor flat of Dinesh Kumar Hirarla in the A-wing. In the morning, the family heard the blast and saw fire coming out of their kitchen. They ran outside as another cylinder also exploded and the fire spread to other wings. The fire brigade was informed of the incident.
Fire officer injured
Vikrant Ghanshyam, a fire officer was injured while rescuing the residents. All the four injured are recuperating at a hospital. Fire officer B Palo said, "We rushed to the spot as soon as we got a call. The fire was doused after a while, but one of our officers got injured due to the cylinder blast. No casualties were reported."
S Dadare, inspector from Nallasopara police station said, "We conducted a panchnama and the statement of the injured people has been taken down. We are waiting for the fire report and the civic report and only then will we able to take action."
