BENGALURU: Two women (mother and daughter) were burnt to death after an accidental LPG explosion inside a flat at Ashrith Aspire apartment complex in Devarachikkanahalli near BTM Layout in Bengaluru on Tuesday evening.
Five others were rescued by fire and emergency personnel and shifted to a private hospital as they suffered burn injuries.
Two of the neighbouring flats were also gutted as the fire quickly spread. All the residents on the premises were shifted to another place as a precautionary measure.
The deceased have been identified as Bhagya Rekha, 59, and Lakshmi Devi, 82. The bodies are yet to be shifted for the postmortem, the police said.
Kumar B, who runs a shop in front of the apartment, said the incident occurred around 4pm and he called fire and emergency personnel on hearing screams.
Amar Kumar Panday, DGP&DG, Fire and Emergency Services, visited the spot and inspected the situation. He said a team had doused the fire and used an aerial ladder to rescue those who were trapped inside the premises.
Bommanahalli police have registered a case and the exact cause of the explosion is yet to be ascertained, he added.
Raju, an eyewitness, said they were not able to go inside the apartment as the fire was huge. One of the neighbours rushed down screaming when she heard a blast, he said.
She initially thought that some grilling work was going on at the house and waited for a while.
When she heard the screaming of the woman inside the apartment, she smelled fire and came out to raise an alarm, he added.