HYDERABAD: A major fire broke out in a commercial building following a gas cylinder explosion at Raja Bollaram of Medchal district on Tuesday. No casualties were reported. According to police, a grocery shop manager was involved in illegal gas trading using subsidised gas cylinders. He used to transfer the gas cylinders to smaller ones. On Tuesday morning, the gas pipeline caught fire. Anticipating that the fire would result in an explosion, the residents inside the building came out and a distress call was made to the fire department at around 9.45 am.
The suburb was 16 km away from the fire station and it took about 30 minutes for the fire tender to reach the spot. The firefighters controlled the situation after an hour. “There were 10 gas cylinders, including commercial cylinders, in the room. Fortunately, only one cylinder caught fire and exploded,” said a fire official.