LPG tanker blast kills three in Maharashtra
New Delhi   07-Sep-2011

Three persons were killed and a few others injured, while five vehicles, at least six shops and a house were destroyed when an LPG tanker exploded and fell into Panjara river at Pimpalner in Dhule district of north Maharashtra, late on Monday night. The mishap sparked a minor riot in the temple town of Pimpalner, where the restive protesters damaged at least nine vehicles, before the fire brigade arrived on the scene.

Though the initial reports had pegged the total number of deaths at four and the total persons injured at 45, the district administration clarified on Tuesday that total number of persons charred to death as three, while a 45-year-old woman sustained 35 per cent of burn wounds in the mishap.

"The initial media reports were exaggerated. Though there were apprehensions that the causalities in the mishap might be more, the total number of people killed was three and injured is one. We have recovered all three bodies from the river, " District Collector Prakash Mahajan told The Pioneer over telephone from Dhule.

Assertions to the contrary made by the district administration, local residents claimed that several persons were injured in the mishap. The LPG-laden tanker, belonging to the State-run IndianOil, was proceeding from Surat (Gujarat) to Nashik, when the mishap occurred near the Chopli bridge.

The driver of the tanker lost control and rammed into a huge electric pole. Owing to the impact of collision, the tanker began leak, caught flames and fell into the Panjara river. As the leaking tanker caught flames, it exploded, destroying a truck, a Maruti car, two auto-rickshaws and one motorcycle. Also gutted in the fire-cum-explosion were six nearby shops and one house.