On Tuesday morning, a tragic house collapse has claimed the lives of a man and a sister because of a deadly explosion of a cylinder in Varanasi, and injured two more relatives. It happened close to the Lahartara private bus station, which created shockwaves in the local people.
The police have identified the deceased as the brother Om Kumar Chaudhary (28) and his sister Preeti (25). Their brother Aman Chaudhary (31) and their mother Girija Devi (60) also got entangled in the rubble, but were both rescued and are doing treatment at present.
It was reported that this explosion occurred when Girija Devi was cooking in their derelict house. A gas leak burst caused by a suspected leakage of the cylinder resulted in a massive explosion, which made the building fall on top of the occupants instantly leaving all the four occupants under the rubble.
Police teams, Bomb Disposal Squad and Dog Squad quickly went to the scene on hearing information forwarded by local residents. The rescue operations were timely and those victims were dragged out of the rubble and brought to the BHU Trauma Centre. Nevertheless, Om Kumar and Preeti died in the process of treatment.
Law enforcement officers have already begun investigating the case in order to establish the real cause of the explosion. The initial indications suggest that a gas leak should have been the trigger. The event again brought safety levels and danger of using LPG cylinder in inadequately maintained buildings into the limelight.
The local population has called on the need to enhance safety inspections and sensitization to avoid such a tragic accident in the future.