Five people sustained injury in a fire incident occurred following an explosion caused by inflammable liquid from spray cans at Keating Road, Shillong. According to Superintendent of Police, East Khasi Hills Sylvester Nongtnger, while one sustained serious injury, 4 could escaped with not so serious one.
“All five are being treated at Shillong Civil Hospital,” the SP said.
The fire broke out at the shop of a scrap dealer which also affected the adjacent Tyre shop and the saloon.
The entire building was shaken by a loud sound.
Nongtnger said, “The blast in a scrap shop at Keating is caused by inflammable liquid from spray cans while the workers were breaking the cans and smoking at the small enclosed place.”
One Shekhar Nag, a resident of that particular building said there was a loud explosion around 1 pm and he came out of the building to find out about it. The top floor of the building is a residential complex.
“This is a narrow lane and there is a scrap dealer inside and there is a saloon and there was a huge blast at around 1PM, and when we came out full of smoke inside its all plastic, rubbers, and tyres and on top we have residential complex, I stay up upstairs,” Nag said.
“The intensity of the blast was high and the black smoke lingered for a long time and spread to several buildings upstairs,” he added.
The incident is said to have occurred at around 1- 1:30 pm. Three Fire Brigade vehicles rush to the spot to douse the fire.
While, police is yet to ascertain the cause of the fire, some residents said cylinder blast may be the reason because of the intensity of the blast.
Another business man said, “Keating Road was closed during the cleaning drive on Sunday but there were atleast four persons inside the scrap shop who were cooking. The owner of the shop spoke to me about it.”