Chennai: The residents of Meenambal street in Kodungaiyur saw Hot Chips bakery on fire at around 11.10 pm on Saturday night and alerted the Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services (TNFRS) which sent two fire tenders. “The fire fighter was trying to open the door of the shop in an attempt to douse the fire, when suddenly the cylinder exploded and he suffered a severe head injury. Almost 50 bystanders, along with fire fighting personnel, were near the shop at the time of the blast. They also suffered injuries because of the explosion,” said Gayathri, kin of a fire accident victim.
The scene was straight out of a war movie as the intensity of the blast had reduced most stuff around the shop to smithereens. Local residents say the area did not have electricity when they noticed the fire in the shop. “As the area did not have power, many local residents were awake and gathered near the shop. Power had just come on when the rescue personnel were trying to open the door that may have triggered cylinder blast”, said S Selvi, a resident.
Many bystanders are still critical with burns. Eight patients had been rushed to private hospitals in Greams road and Vanagaram.
Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswamy visited Government Stanley Hospital to meet the victims of the cylinder blast.
Rajadurai, a 28-year-old local resident who was rushed to Apollo Hospital in Nungambakkam, is in a critical state while two firemen may have received serious injuries or burns. Hospital authorities said the patients are being monitored regularly and the critically injured will have plastic surgery performed on them.
Meanwhile, police personnel restricted the relatives of the victims from visiting the hospital at KMC. Fighting back tears, relative of a 10 year old child who had incurred serious burns said, “The child had gone to see what was happening along with people who resided very close to the shop.
He is on ventilator and we are not allowed to visit him because of infection risk”. Residents and relatives of the affected people came in large numbers. Late evening, some people were also referred to other government hospitals.
