Six people lost their lives and three others were wounded in an explosion involving an oxygen cylinder which also led to a partial collapse of a house in the Sikandrabad area of Bulandshahr district, Uttar Pradesh. According to Bulandshahr District Magistrate Chandra Prakash Singh, the incident happened on October 21st in the evening at Riyazuddin’s home, inhabited by about 19 individuals, including women and children. Five people were killed at first, then in the early hours of 22nd October, that number rose to six.
They were transported to the district hospital, according to city magistrate Chandra Prakash Priyadarshi. There were three male and three female victims. The deceased has been identified as Riyazuddin alias Raju (50), his wife Rukhsana (45), Salman (16), Tamanna (24), Hivja (3) and Aas Mohammed (26). One of the injured is in a critical state.
“A total of six bodies have been brought here in the district hospital for post-mortem, three male bodies and three female bodies. These are the victims of the Sikandrabad tragedy. I can’t exactly say the total number of casualties. I have my duty in the district hospital and six bodies were brought here,” Chandra Prakash Paryadarshi stated. “A cylinder blast occurred at a house in Ashapuri colony between 8:30-9 pm. There were 18-19 people in the house, eight people were rescued from here whose condition were very critical. The Chief Medical Officer has confirmed the death of five people, three people are still injured, out of which one is in serious condition but his treatment is underway,” he had informed earlier.
Senior Superintendent of Police of Bulandshahr Shlok Kumar revealed that after being hospitalized for treatment, Riyazuddin’s wife was recently taken home by the family, who had brought an oxygen cylinder and its accessories to aid with post-hospitalization care. He stated “This oxygen cylinder exploded. The cylinder, its nozzle, etc have been recovered from the debris. The bodies have been sent for post-mortem and further legal proceedings in the matter are underway.”
Rescue and relief efforts were started as soon as information of the casualties was received, according to Dhruva Kant Thakur, Additional Director General of Police, Meerut Zone. He mentioned that the rescue effort encompassed members of the local government, police, fire department, NDRF, and medical personnel. “Chief Minister (Yogi Adityanath) took immediate cognisance of the incident. We were sent to the spot and directions were issued that good-quality treatment should be given to the injured persons,” Chandra Prakash Singh conveyed. Regarding the rescue effort, he added that gas cutters had to be used to pry open the house’s iron roof beams. An excavator was dispatched to clean the rubble at the same time.
