Five children among six killed in cylinder blast in Bihar's Purnia

PATNA: A 26-year-old woman and five children, including her six-year-old daughter, were killed in an LPG cylinder blast at a village in Purnia district, police said on Tuesday.
The woman’s 20-year-old brother-in-law received serious burn injuries and has been admitted to a private hospital in Bhagalpur where his condition is reported to be critical. The incident took place at Gwalgaon under Baisi police station around 8pm on Monday when the injured man, Pintu Yadav, entered the kitchen and lit the gas stove to prepare tea.As gas was leaking from the connecting pipe, fire engulfed the kitchen causing severe burn injuries to him, police said.
Hearing his shouts for help, Pintu’s six-year-old niece Priti Kumari rushed in and her clothes caught fire. Priti’s mother Baby Kumari saw her on fire and tried to douse it and herself caught fire followed by four other children Gagan (7), Anand (4), Rupi (6) and Priyanshu (3). While the six-year-old girl died at the spot, her mother and four other children succumbed to injuries at Purnia sadar hospital.
The station house officer of Baisi police station, Sunil Kumar Mandal, confirmed the incident and said the bodies of the deceased were handed over to the family after post mortem. Purnia DM Rahul Kumar has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh to the two families, who lost six members in the tragedy.
He also assured the family that the injured man would be provided better treatment under the supervision of the district authorities. “The victims were rushed to the Sadar hospital by local residents for treatment but they died because of their burn injuries,” the mukhiya of Khapra panchayat, Arun Kumar Yadav, said