A MAJOR tragedy was averted after two oxygen cylinders kept in two parked ambulances exploded at Shriram Nagar, Besa, Friday afternoon. It was allegedly a case of sibling rivarly gone wrong. Following the twin blasts, panic gripped the residents of Revati Nagar, Shriram Nagar, and nearby localities. One of the ambulance owners suffered serious injuries in the blast after both the vehicles caught fire. After the explosions, glass windows of the nearby buildings smashed and caused extensive damage to a restaurant, a godown and three houses. The two ambulances were completely gutted in the fire. The news about the explosion spread like wildfire in the area with hundreds of residents rushed to the blast site where the two ambulances (MH-31/EM-0400 and UP-65/VT-6504) were burning. Residents rescued injured Pappu Tripathi, owner of one of the ambulances and rushed him to Government Medical College & Hospital. The second ambulance belonged to Pramod Tripathi who escaped unhurt. Staff from Beltarodi Police Station and a team of Fire & Emergency Services Department of Nagpur Municipal Corporation rushed to the spot. Two fire tenders were pressed into service. Firefighters doused the flames immediately after reaching the spot and saved property worth Rs 1.15 crore from devastation. The estimated loss due to the twin blasts and fire was about Rs 39 lakh. Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) also visited the spot to ascertain the facts.

 

A senior officer of Beltarodi Police Station, who started investigations after the incident, said that the oxygen cylinders were kept in the ambulances when the explosion occurred. Owners of the ambulances are brothers and were quarrelling over some dispute, he added. In a fit of rage, he said, one of them allegedly set an ambulance afire which resulted in the cylinder blast. Another ambulance also caught fire and the cylinder kept in it also exploded. Some persons somehow managed to remove five other cylinders from the spot after the twin blasts, he added. He said that both the ambulances and emergency medical equipment including ventilators and monitors were completely gutted. “Still, we are investigating the case from all possible angles to ascertain more facts about the twin blasts,” the officer added.