Hyderabad: A massive explosion on Sunday midnight at a house in the Raigir village of Bhongir Yadadri district killed two farmers belonging to a family and seriously injured their mother.
The effect of the blast was so high that the walls and roof of their house collapsed. The blast also affected two neighbouring houses and blew up walls. Sources said the farmers had been using crude explosives to protect crops from wild boars and that the explosives were kept in the house. This could have led to the explosion. However, cops said it was an LPG blast.
The dead are Meesala Venkat Reddy, 48, and his brother Prabhakar Reddy, 39. Their mother Jalamma, 70, suffered 70 per cent burns and is critical.
Police said the victims were staying in a RCC house which was divided into two portions with a common wall. Venkat Reddy was staying with his wife and son and Prabhakar with his wife. Their mother was also staying with them.
Venkat Reddy, who had worked for an explosives company two decades ago, was driving a tractor for a stone crusher. On Sunday night, he was at the Ganesh pandal in the village and participated in some games. But as there were power fluctuations he went home to sleep.
Around 12.30 am the villagers heard a huge explosion. “We were at the pandal making arrangements for the immersion when we heard a huge noise. We rushed in the direction of the noise but could not see anything as the area was completely covered by fire and smoke,” said a villager.
A neighbour said that he could not sleep due to the power cut but as soon as the power was restored it led to the explosion. “I thought it was a bomb and ran out. For at least two hours we could not approach the house due to the heat,” she said.
Sources said the victims could have stored crude explosives in the house and an accidental fire could have led to the explosion. The walls of a neighbouring house also collapsed but as the residents were at the pandal they escaped.
Cops suspect blast due to leakage from gas cylinder
Rachakonda police has not ruled out the possibility of the presence of a crude explosive in the house but said the explosion could have occurred due to gas leaking in a room without ventilation.
Experts from the Forensic Science Lab (FSL), bomb squad, dog squad and other teams visited the spot and collected samples and the soot for analysis.
Joint commissioner of police Tarun Joshi said that prima facie it looked like a gas explosion but the police is not ruling out other angles. The wives of both the brothers were away at their maternal homes for holidays.
For the last 15 days Venkat’s wife has been complaining of gas leak from the cylinder, but it was not repaired. On Sunday night, Venkat and Jalamma slept in the same room which did not have ventilation and the door was also closed.
