Delhi Minister Gopal Rai visits hospital, cylinder blast incident spot to review situation

Following the cylinder blast incident in Azadpur in the national capital in which at least 17 people were injured, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai Sunday visited the area and the hospital in which the injured have been admitted.

"More than 17 people were injured in the cylinder blast incident and are admitted to the hospital. I am heading to the hospital also to meet them. Will give the report to Delhi Chief Minister (Arvind Kejriwal) and provide all sorts of assistance," Rai told media persons near the Lalbagh masjid area before heading into the hospital.

The Minister, after meeting the injured people at the Babu Jagjivan Ram Memorial Hospital, toldthat several people had sustained severe injuries in the blast. "The doctor told me that seven to eight people have serious injuries. They have been referred to another hospital for treatment at ICU," he added.

Dr Deepak, Chief Medical Officer at the Hospital toldthat nine out of the 15 people brought to the hospital had sustained severe injuries and were referred to another hospital.

An injured person, Sonu, said, "The cylinder blast took place at my house. We are replacing the empty cylinder with a new one and when we lighted the stove, the cylinder caught fire. Minutes later, another cylinder caught fire."

He further blamed the cylinder company's providers for providing faulty cylinders and alleged they did so to earn profits. "Numerous times we have registered complaints but no action was taken ," Sonu added.

According to the police, a PCR call was received at around 10.08 am in Adarsh Nagar police station regarding a fire accident in a house near Lalbagh masjid, Azadpur due to a cylinder blast.

Of the 17 injured people, some were admitted to Babu Jagjivan Ram Memorial Hospital and some to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. No casualties were reported in the incident, said the police.

( With inputs from ANI )