Father, son die in cylinder blast in Bihar’s Bhagalpur

Patna, Nov 25 (IANS) A man and his son died after two LPG cylinders exploded at a restaurant in Bihar’s Bhagalpur district on Monday morning.

The father-son duo had gone to extinguish the fire in the restaurant when the cylinders exploded.

The incident occurred just opposite the Nagarmal mall in Bhagalpur's Kharmanchak area under Jogsar police station early Monday morning around 5 a.m.

The incident has caused widespread panic in the neighbourhood.

The deceased, identified as Kishan Kumar Jhunjhunwala and his son Prasun Jhunjhunwala alias Kanhaiya, were seriously injured in the mishap and the neighbours took them to the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital Bhagalpur where they succumbed to their injuries.

The town police station has been informed, and an investigation is currently underway.

CCTV footage of the incident in Bhagalpur's Kharmanchak area shows the fire escalating rapidly. The video captures smoke billowing from the building as the fire ignites. Local youths rushed to the scene to offer assistance, but the blaze spread too quickly for them to intervene effectively.

District officials suspected the fire was triggered by a short circuit, which quickly led to a massive blaze.

The incident occurred around 5 a.m. when many residents were out for their morning walk.

“We were on the morning walk when we saw a fire breaking out in the restaurant. When we reached the place, two back-to-back explosions with fireballs occurred at the scene. One person fell 20 feet away from the restaurant. He was seriously injured. We also found another person and rushed him to the hospital,” said Sudhir Kumar, an eyewitness.

Neighbours were shocked by the incident, and there is widespread concern over fire safety in the area.

The police are investigating the exact cause of the fire, and efforts are on to assess the extent of the damage.

We have recovered the dead bodies and sent them for the post-mortem. Further investigation is underway,” said an officer of the Jogsar police station.

--IANS

ajk/uk