New Delhi: At least four people, including a child, died and 15 others got injured after a massive fire broke out following an LPG cylinder blast in a building in Jammu, police said.
The death toll may increase further as the rescue operation was still underway, officials said.
Meanwhile, an ex gratia amount of Rs 5 lakh has been announced by J&K LG Manoj Sinha for the families of those who died in the tragic incident while Rs 2 lakh each will be given to those who got grievously injured.
An ex-gratia of Rs.5 Lakh each to be given to the families of the deceased in Jammu LPG Cylinder blast incident. Ex gratia of Rs.1 Lakh to be given to the seriously injured and Rs.25,000 to those with minor injuries.
— Office of LG J&K (@OfficeOfLGJandK) March 14, 2022
Rs 25,000 will be given to those with minor injuries, announced Sinha.
About the accident, the major fire broke out on Monday evening in a scrap shop on the ground floor of the building in the Residency Road area apparently due to a short circuit.
Soon the flames engulfed the entire building and some of the LPG cylinders kept inside exploded, said Senior Superintendent of Police, Jammu, Chandan Kohli.
The officer said that three people, including a child, were charred to death in the incident and 15 others were rescued and rushed to the hospital.
A spokesperson of the Fire and Emergency Services Department said they received a call about the fire around 6.10 pm and immediately rushed fire tenders to the spot.
Additional Director General of Police, Jammu, Mukesh Singh also rushed to the scene to supervise the firefighting and rescue operation.
"Over a dozen families were living in the building. The fire spread very fast, many of the residents could not escape immediately," said a building resident Anwar Hussain.
Another survivor, Yasmeena Khatoon, said the building residents lost everything in the fire.
"We could not retrieve anything and tried to flee the raging fire," she said, adding that many of her relatives are either injured or missing after the incident.
(With PTI inputs)
