A two-month-old baby girl died and 15 others were injured, four of them critically, when an LPG cylinder exploded at about 7.30 a.m. in a house in Rangireeju Street in the old city area on Tuesday.
The explosion occurred when the residents were trying to fix regulator to the cylinder, which, the neighbours said, had been leaking for the last two days.
K. Satyanarayana, a barber, resides in the house along with his wife, two sons, a daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren.
He sought his neighbour K. Suribabu’s help to fix the regulator, as he runs a street food counter and was believed to have some knowledge about fixing the regulator.
As Suribabu was trying to fix the regulator, the cylinder exploded. A spark in the electrical fitting was believed to have triggered the blast.
The explosion proved too powerful to withstand for the two-month-old baby residing in the opposite house, said Inspector of One Town Police Station Ramana.
Critically injuredThe persons who sustained critical burns were Satyanarayana’s granddaughter Poojitha (7), neighbour Santamma (40), house owner K. Eswar Rao (45), and Suribabu (42).
Head of Department of Plastic Surgery in King George Hospital P.V. Sudhakar said that Eswar Rao sustained over 90 per cent burns, Santamma and Suribabu over 80 per cent burns, and Poojitha about 60 per cent burns.
All the four have been shifted from KGH to a private hospital on the instructions of District Collector N. Yuvaraj.
The other injured persons were Keerthi (11), Hari (18), Jairam (19), Chandini (4), Bujji (23), Bondamma (45) Varalakshmi (45), S. Satyavathi (28), S. Durga (12), Bhavani (28), and S. Tanuja (9).
“They have sustained between 10 and 30 per cent burns and are undergoing treatment. They are out of danger,” Dr. Sudhakar said.
Ministers — Ch. Ayyanna Patrudu and Ganta Srinivasa Rao — called on the injured at the KGH.
MLA V. Ganesh Kumar and former MLA Dronamraju Srinivasa Rao visited the accident spot.
