Huge explosion due to gas leak in Faridabad; 1 dead

Faridabad, Nov 12 (PTI) A person died and three others were injured in a huge explosion due to leakage from a gas pipeline in Palwal in Haryana on Tuesday, officials said.

The explosion happened near Lala Lajpat Rai Park on Old GT Road while a government JCB was fixing a water pipeline near a tea shop leading to a stampede at the site, they said.

Several shops, one of them a three-storey building, were completely burnt, several vehicles, including a JCB, were also damaged in the fire and total loss due to the blaze is said to be worth crores. Four fire brigade vehicles reached the spot and controlled the fire after two hours of effort, they added.

Police and officials of the district administration rushed to the spot to control the crowd.

According to police, a 10 feet long and eight feet wide pit was dug using an excavator to fix a water pipeline leakage around noon on Tuesday. Later, all the workers of the public health department came out of the pit after fixing the leakage.

While the pit was being refilled with the JCB, a PNG pipeline nearby got damaged and started leaking rapidly. Before people could react, the gas from the stove of the teashop likely caught fire and exploded, police said.

This led to a stampede among the shopkeepers and other people, they said.

During the stampede, tea shopkeeper Harichand Singla (50), a resident of Shiv Vihar Colony, Palwal fell into the pit and the flames engulfed him.

Police said 30-feet high flames were seen at the spot. Later, the the cylinder kept at the tea shop also exploded. Two public health department employees Veeru and Ramkumar received burn injuries and were sent to a private hospital.

After the fire stopped, Singla's body was taken out of the pit and sent for post-mortem, police said.

Goods worth crores kept in two shops -- Jain Battery and Ricoh Battery -- were burnt in the fire. The JCB, six bikes and other items were also burnt to ashes, they said.

A senior police officer said that the situation is now under control and all injured are being treated, and added that an inquiry has been initiated into the explosion.

After the fire, traffic on the Old GT Road was stopped and was diverted to other roads. A traffic jam was seen from Agra Chowk to New Sohna Road on the Old Sohna chowk. Traffic was resumed after 4 pm. PTI COR SKY SKY