An eight-year-old boy, his mother and their neighbour died after a wall collapsed due to the impact of a cylinder blast in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvannamalai. Four others were injured in the incident. The incident happened on Sunday in Arani, in Tiruvannamalai district.
The LPG cylinder blast is suspected to have been triggered by a gas leak at a building which had two houses. The owner of the house D Mukthabai (55) and her daughter D Meena (15) lived in one house while their tenant M Janakiraman lived in the other house with his wife J Kamatchi and their sons, J Suresh and J Hemanath. The two houses were separated by a common wall.
When the cylinder exploded, the wall that divided portions of the house between the landlord and a tenant besides that of a neighbour collapsed. Kamatchi, Hemanath and a neighbour S Chandra died in the wall collapse. Janakiraman and Suresh were injured in the collapse. Meanwhile, Mukthabai and Meena suffered 90% and 50% burns respectively, due to the explosion.
After initial treatment at a state-run hospital in Arani, all the injured have been admitted to a government facility in neighbouring Vellore, an official told PTI.
Condoling the deaths, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami announced a solatium of Rs 2 lakh each to Kamatchi and Chandra’s families, Rs 1 lakh each to the severely injured and Rs 50,000 to those who sustained minor injuries. After he got to know about the mishap, the CM directed Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department Minister Sevur Ramachandran, who hails from the district, and the collector to immediately reach the spot and take up relief work and ensure best possible treatment to those injured.
Palaniswami also appealed to the people to take care and exercise caution while using Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinders in their households.
(With PTI inputs)