Two people died when a cooking gas cylinder exploded at a house in Rambhapur here in the early hours of Monday.
The deceased are Suresh Siddappa Gangashetty, 50, the owner of the house, and Anitha Gurusiddaiah Hiremath, 10, from Hunashyala in Basavana Bagewadi taluk of the district.
Gangashetty’s family had been sleeping on the terrace of their house as it was very hot inside. At around 12 am, the family members were woken up by the smell of cooking gas.
Gangashetty came down the stairs and even as he was opening the door, there was an explosion and he was flung away to a distance. He died on the spot.
A shed constructed on the first floor of the house was damaged in the incident. One of the walls of the shed fell on Anitha, who was sleeping on the terrace of the neighbouring house. She was living with her grandmother for studies.
Siddappa Sangu Gangashetty, Suresh’s relative, who was sleeping on the terrace of a neighbouring house, was injured in the leg after a brick from the damaged house fell on him.
A few neighbouring houses also suffered damage in the incident.
3 suffer injuries
In another incident, three people suffered serious burn injuries when a fire broke out, following leakage of cooking gas at Vidyanagar in Haveri district on Monday morning.
The injured are Ningappa Channagowdra, his wife Parvathemma and their son Shivakumar. They have suffered 30 per cent burns on their chests.
The incident occurred when they switched on the gas stove to prepare tea. The trio has been admitted to the KIMS hospital in Hubli for treatment.
