Four persons were injured in an explosion of an LPG cylinder following a gas leak in the Kirkatwadi area near Pune city late on Saturday night. Among the injured, a 12-year-old girl has sustained serious burn injuries, police said.
According to the information given by Haveli police station, which comes under Pune rural’s jurisdiction, the incident took place at 10 pm in a chawl in Karanjawane Vasti in Kirkatwadi, located around 12 kilometres from Pune City. The injured have been identified as Veena Laxmikant Nevaskar (56), Shubhangi Pasalkar (35), Sonakshi Pasalkar (12) and Ranjit Giri (25).
An official from Haveli police station said that the explosion took place in Nevaskar’s house. Nevaskar was out and when she came home in the night, her neighbours informed her that they had been sensing an LPG leakage from her kitchen as the odour had spread to adjacent houses too, police added.
As Newaskar was opening the door of her house, Pasalkar, her daughter Sonakshi, and Giri came to the spot to check what had happened, police said. Few moments after Pasalkar entered the house, the cylinder exploded, injuring the four persons present on the spot, they added. Due to the impact of the explosion, the insides of the house and window panes of other houses were badly damaged, police said.
Local moved the injured to a local hospital and later to Sassoon General Hospital. Police said while Sonakshi sustained 45 to 50 per cent burn injuries, other three had sustained 25 per cent burns.