Tamil Nadu: Eight injured after LPG cylinder at tea stall explodes in Kanyakumari

KANYAKUMARI: A gas cylinder at a tea stall near Nagercoil in Kanyakumari district suddenly exploded on Sunday morning and caused a fire, which led to eight persons suffering burn injuries.
According to the police, a tea shop close to the bus stand under Parvathipuram Bridge near Nagercoil was being run by a 37-year-old man named Shafiq for the past three years. The tea shop usually functions during both day and night time. On Sunday morning, at around 5am, an LPG cylinder at the tea shop suddenly exploded, causing a fire. Alarmed employees of the shop and customers immediately tried to escape from the fire.
After being alerted, police, fire and rescue services personnel immediately reached the spot.
The fire was prevented from spreading further and was soon brought under control. However, eight persons suffered burn injuries and were admitted to Kanyakumari Government Medical College Hospital (MCH). The Vadaseri police was investigating the incident. Police said that as per preliminary investigation, it is suspected that overheating of the LPG cylinder could have caused the explosion.
The injured persons included three shop employees, Musa, 48, Pravin, 25, Sekar, 52, and five customers/bystanders, including Subbiah, 66, Sudha, 43, Chandran, 62, and Susila, 50. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin announced a compensation of Rs 50,000 each to the injured persons from the Chief Minister’s Public Relief Fund. Kanyakumari district collector M Aravind and other officials visited and consoled those under treatment at Kanyakumari MCH and handed over the cheques.