CHENNAI: A 24-year-old lorry cleaner died of burns at Government Kilpauk Medical College Hospital (GKMC) on Wednesday, four days after he was critically injured in a cylinder explosion at a scrapyard in Aathur in Tiruvallur district.
The deceased has been identified as Akash. According to the police, he was asleep inside a lorry parked near the scrapyard when the incident occurred on Saturday.
The police said an industrial cylinder used for cutting scrap lorry parts exploded while workers were dismantling vehicles at the yard. The intensity of the blast hurled the cylinder towards the parked lorry, setting it on fire.
Sources said he had sustained 90% burns.
Following Akash’s death, the Cholavaram police registered a case under Section 106 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and launched an investigation.
The officials are probing the cause of the explosion and examining whether negligence or violations of safety norms at the scrap yard contributed to the fatal incident. The Red Hills police sources said the shop owner is yet to be arrested and that efforts are under way to apprehend him soon.