BENGALURU: Eight migrant workers from West Bengal sustained serious burn injuries after a suspected LPG cylinder explosion,believed to have been caused by a gas leak, at a PG accommodation where they were staying in a single room in the Hebbagodi police station limits on Thursday morning. One worker jumped from the second floor the building to escape fire and sustained fractures.
The injured have been identified as Debasis Halder, Debasis Malik, Subrata Bera, Habibul Rehman, Sourav Chowdhary, Santan Ray,Syed Alahuddin, and Biswanath. All are aged between 30 and 35,and work as specialised pipeline workers at M Engineering Company. They had come to Bengaluru a month ago.
According to the police, the incident occurred at around 6.30 am at Jai Sai Comforts PG. Around nine workers were staying in a second-floor room of the three-storey building. The explosion is suspected to have occurred due to an LPG gas leak when the workers woke up and were about to start preparing breakfast.
Following the blast, one worker jumped from the building through a window and others came out of the room with burn injuries before Fire and Emergency Services personnel reached the spot.
The police added that the worker who jumped from the building sustained fractures in his hands along with minor burn injuries, while six workers suffered more than 60 per cent burn injuries. A senior police officer said the workers were staying in a single-bedroom unit with a small kitchen and bathroom. It is suspected that they had kept all the windows closed overnight to prevent mosquitoes from entering, which may have trapped the leaked LPG gas inside the room.
The LPG cylinder belonged to a private brand, and the police are verifying the company’s credentials along with the quality of the cylinder, regulator, and connecting pipes, the officer added.
