Five hurt in LPG blast in Tura town

TURA: Five persons were severely injured in a LPG cylinder blast at Tura Main Market near Police Parade Ground on Tuesday morning.
The incident took place in the makeshift kitchen of a tea stall owned by one Shubir Mahanto (45) in which a mother along with her two daughters, a co-worker and a minor roadside vegetable vendor were injured.
Four of the victims have been identified as Manju Devi (45), her two daughters Robita Kumari (16) and Ranjani Kumari (15) and Sourab Ali (15), while the identity of the minor vegetable vendor who is also said to be the most critical is yet to be established.
According to Ravi Kumar (18), son of Manju Devi, the incident took place at around 7:30 am while his mother and two sisters who work at the tea stall were beginning to brew the morning’s tea for customers.
The minor vegetable vendor who had kept his merchandise in the kitchen of the tea stall for the night had also gone in to bring them out to start the day’s business.  As the mother and the two daughters were engrossed in their work a leaking LPG cylinder kept below in the makeshift kitchen began to catch fire. Seeing the danger, Sourab Ali, a co-worker, managed to drag the cylinder out of the kitchen and fled to escape the full force of the blast but sustained considerable injuries.
The mother and her two daughters including the vegetable vendor also tried to flee but were caught in the blast.
“The leaking gas must have been ignited by the kerosene stove being used by the mother and her two daughters as we saw a white streak trailing down from where they were working to the kitchen below,” Prebun Ch Marak, a driver and an eyewitness at the scene said.
Meanwhile, West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner Pravin Bakshi, when contacted, informed that all the five injured people have been taken to Guwahati for treatment.