Cylinder explosion kills 3, injures 8 in Salem: Report

Ayesha (40), her son Siddique (18) and their neighbour Deveraj (45) were killed when an LPG cylinder exploded on Wednesday morning in Devaraj’s first floor house on Mettukadai Street in Attayampatti Village, nearly 25km from Salem.

Police said eight persons living in three houses on the first floor of the residential building were injured as the explosion led to total collapse of the roof of the houses of Ayesha and Devaraj and partial collapse in the house of Gurumurthy (25) and his wife Meenakshi (22).

Besides Gurumurthy and Meenakshi, the other injured are: Ayesha’s husband Ahmedullah, son Yasif, daughter Sahita, Devaraj’s wife Malliga, son Kumar, daughter Sandhya and three-year-old grandaughter Deepadarshini. The child is said to be in a serious condition. The explosion flung her about 50 feet from the house.

Fire and Rescue Services personnel brought the injured out and put them in the ambulances of 108 service to the hospital.

They used gas cutters to get to the body of Devaraj that was lying under a heap of debris. Severe burns on his body led to the suspicion that he might have been in the kitchen at the time of the explosion.

The debris flew nearly 100 feet from the building and hit a cow in the head, killing it instantly. Two cars near the compound were damaged.

The residential building has five houses on the ground floor and four on the first floor. The explosion left cracks on the walls and broken window panes in all the ground floor houses and one on the first floor.

Attayampatti Police are investigating the cause of the explosion. Collector K. Maharabhushanam and Superintendent of Police R. Sakthivel visited the spot.