PETLAWAD // At least 85 people were killed and about 100 wounded on Saturday when a powerful blast triggered by an exploding gas cylinder tore through a packed restaurant in India.
The restaurant building in central Madhya Pradesh state was being used illegally to store explosives that detonated in the blast, vastly amplifying its impact and destroying neighbouring buildings.
“Initially we heard the sound of fire crackers. A huge explosion took place forcing people to take cover,”said Balram, an injured labourer, from hospital.
The blast in the town of Petlawad in Jhabua district happened at about 8.30am as many office workers and schoolchildren were having breakfast in the restaurant.
Photographs from the scene showed bodies covered in dust and ash lying in the streets alongside the twisted wreckage of burnt-out vehicles. Victims described seeing body parts in the street.
“We have seen them flying and falling on the ground,” said Narsingh, one of the injured.
Residents reported hearing a small explosion followed by a much larger one.
Television footage showed scores of people and rescue workers using their bare hands to shift mangled heaps of steel and concrete, while police cordoned off the area.
Police struggled to keep hundreds of onlookers and people searching for relatives away from the site of the explosions, said a police officer. Crowds hampered the movement of ambulances and emergency vehicles. Officers had to push people back to allow a bulldozer to reach the restaurant.
After clearing the debris of the restaurant and neighbouring structures, police said 85 people had been killed. “Earlier we thought it was 104 people who died but now our official information says 85 confirmed deaths,” said M L Gond, an inspector at Jhabua’s police station. “The site has been cleared, no more bodies are there”, and about 100 others were being treated in nearby hospitals, he said.
Mr Gond said: “Reports suggest that detonators and explosives used for digging wells and for mining were stored in the room next to the restaurant.” He said that the explosive material was being stored illegally in the residential area.
Kamlesh Bamaniya, a police officer, said a local contractor, Rajendra Kashawa, had been given a licence to buy detonators for his well-digging business. Kashawa was killed in the blasts, he said.
There are several manganese and bauxite mines in Jhabua district and many mine workers are hired on contract from Petlawad and nearby areas.
Another district police official, Anurag Mishra, cited the restaurant’s proximity to a busy bus stand as a reason for the high number of casualties.
Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Twitter: “The Jhabua tragedy is heart wrenching. I offer my condolences to the families of the victims and pray for the speedy recovery of those injured.” He has ordered an inquiry and offered compensation of 200,000 rupees (Dh11,088) to the families of the dead and 50,000 rupees to help the injured victims.
Prime minister Narendra Modi also conveyed his condolences on Twitter. “Extremely pained at the loss of lives due to the cylinder blast in Jhabua,” he said.
Domestic gas cylinder explosions are common in India, where safety standards are poor. But although reports of fatal accidents from cylinder blasts are frequent, mass casualties are unusual.
* Agence France-Presse,
Associated Press
