B'luru: 7 die as house collapses after cylinder blast, several feared trapped

Bengaluru: At least seven persons were killed and some others feared trapped when a two-storeyed building collapsed due to a suspected LPG cylinder blast near Ejipura in the city on Monday, the police said.

Bengaluru Development Minister KJ George has announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to next of kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to injured.

The minister also said that the government will adopt the girl (whose parents died ) who was rescued and will take care of all her expenses.

Eye-witnesses said the blast took place at around 7 a.m. They said a noise of the blast was heard and the 20 year-old building was reduced to rubble.

Personnel of the Fire brigade and National Disaster Response Force, who rushed to the spot, recovered the bodies including that of two women.

Two of the deceased have been identified as Kalavathi (68) and Ravichandran (30).

Two children, who were rescued from the debris were out of danger, police said.

Meanwhile, Karnataka Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy said that it was unlikely that the buildings collapsed due to blast as cylinders on both ground and first floor had no gas in them, according to ANI.

The minister who visited the spot, told reporters that the building belonged to one Gunesh. Gunesh had rented the building to four families, he added.

"Two families were residing in the ground floor while one was on the first floor. Kalavathi and Ravichandran were in the first floor. They died on the spot while two children sustained injuries. They are safe. In the ground floor, members of two families might have been trapped," said the minister.

Bengaluru Mayor R Sampath Raj said four families were residing in the building.

At least 40 fire-fighters and NDRF personnel were carrying out rescue operation.

While clearing debris to pull out those trapped in the building, three fire-fighters were injured as a wall fell on them, police said adding they had been shifted to a nearby hospital.