Pune: Ten persons received serious burn injuries after a domestic LPG cylinder exploded on the second floor of a three-storeyed building in lane number 10 in Ganesh Nagar area at Wadgaon Sheri on Wednesday early morning. The injured persons are undergoing treatment at a private hospital. 

The blast was so severe that it completely destroyed the second and third floors of the building and damaged a neighbouring building. The injured include two men, four women and four girls.

According to the fire brigade officials, the gas cylinder exploded at 6.20 am on Wednesday morning. The fire brigade got the news at 6.53 am. Before the fire brigade reached the spot, some of the injured persons were rushed to the hospital by the neighbouring citizens.

Balasaheb Appaji Bhondwe (50), Nira Balasaheb Bhondwe (45) and Anuradha Balasaheb Bhondwe (20) have sustained burn injuries in this incident and are undergoing treatment at a private hospital. Three tenants have also received minor injuries but their details were not available till Wednesday afternoon.

Local corporator Mahendra Pathare and Usha Kalamkar informed the Municipal Corporation officials, police and fire brigade that four adjoining houses were also badly damaged. The blast was so huge that the second and third floor of the building were completely destroyed. The blast ripped through windows and walls of nearby houses.

In a similar incident of LPG cylinder explosion at the Ashtavinayak society in Mahadev Nagar of Dighi on August 9, two persons died while 11 were injured, including four children. The cylinder explosion was caused due to overnight leakage of LPG in the flat owned by one Mahendra Surawade. Archana Mahendra Surawade (35), who had sustained 90 per cent burn injuries and Dnyaneshwar Madhukar Temkar (40) residing in their adjacent flat, had succumbed to their injuries in this incident.

Fire Brigade officials have appealed citizens to get their LPG connection checked regularly to detect any leakage in the connection. Also utmost care must be taken while handling the LPG cylinder in the house.