UP: 6 killed in gas cylinder blast in Azamgarh

VARANASI: A fire following an explosion in an LPG cylinder left six people, including 2 minor girls dead in Uttar Pradesh's Azamgarh district on Monay.
The incident occurred during a 'bhandara' (community feast) in Chak Bengali village of Rani ki Sarai area.
One minor girl, who also fell unconscious, was referred to Varanasi in view of sharp deterioration in her health condition.
DIG Azamgarh range Vijay Bhushan, district magistrate Shivakant Dwivedi and SP Ravi Shankar Chhavi reached the spot after the incident.
According to reports, one Ramtaji Devi had hosted a religious discourse and bhandara at her residence. Apart from her relatives, large number of villagers had also gathered at her place. In the afternoon, a cylinder caught fire.
Before people busy in cooking food could control it, the cylinder exploded. It led to chaos at the incident site and people started running for shelter.
A group of women and children entered a room, where husk had been stored. The flames engulfed the husk. As the room had a single point for entry and exit, they could not come out as the wooden doors also had caught fire. On getting information fire fighters reached there and doused the blaze.
However, they could not save the people inside the room. Ramtaji (70), Kavita (50), Manita (35), her daughter Aradhya (1), Tara Devi (50) and Anjali (4) died due to suffocation. Only a 14-year-old girl was rescued alive but her condition is critical, said the DIG.
The chief medical officer GL Kesarvani confirmed that deaths had been caused by suffocation.