LPG cylinder explodes; Houses, shop gutted in T. Narasipur

T. Narasipur: A man was burnt alive, while four houses and the shop in which he had stored and sold petrol illegally caught fire reducing the houses and shop into ashes. The incident took place at Seehalli village in the taluk yesterday evening.

The deceased has been identified as Somashekar (58), a resident of the village. Gold ornaments worth lakhs of rupees and groceries stored in the shop have been destroyed in the fire.

As petrol caught fire, the flames engulfed Somashekar’s shop, house and spread to the neighbouring cowshed belonging to Sunandamma and to houses belonging to Somashekar’s brother and his mother.

Luckily, no injuries or loss of lives were reported as there were nobody in the houses. Even Somashekar’s wife and children had gone out when the fire mishap  took place.

Somashekar, who owned a big tiled-roof house on the outskirts of Seehalli village, was also running a shop adjacent to the house and was selling household items and groceries. It is learnt that Somashekar had stored petrol in his house and was selling the same illegally at the shop. Yesterday at about 6 pm, when Somashekar’s family was away from the house and he (Somashekar) was conducting business at the shop, his house caught fire and while Somashekar was trying to extinguish the fire, petrol which was stored illegally at his shop caught fire.

But still, Somashekar, in a bid to douse the fire, entered the burning house during which the LPG cylinder exploded with a loud bang. As flames engulfed the house suddenly, Somashekar was caught in the fire and was burnt alive, it is learnt. As the fire spread, neighbouring houses too caught fire and villagers began to pour water in buckets in a bid to douse the fire but in vain.

Soon, T. Narasipur Fire Brigade personnel, who arrived at the spot in three fire extinguishing vehicles, managed to extinguish the fire late night.

Chief Fire Officer Jayaramaiah, Regional Fire Officer Naveen Kumar, District Fire Station Officer H. Raju, Mahadev and staff took part in the operation.

Tahsildar B. Girija, Circle Inspector Krishnappa, Sub-Inspector Tirumallesh and other officials visited the spot. T. Narasipur Police have registered a case. The charred remains of Somashekar was shifted to T. Narasipur General Hospital for post-mortem and the body will be handed over to the family members later in the day today.