PANJIM: Three girls had a lucky escape as a massive LPG cylinder blast rocked the government quarters at Bhatlem, Panjim during the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday.

According to neighbours, parents of the kids were not in the flat when the blast took place. While the mother, a government servant, had gone for training, the father was out for work.

“We received a call at around 2 am. When the rescue team reached and was in the process of taking out water pipes, the blast occurred. The blast, which occurred at the second floor of flat, was heavy and caused damage to the walls of the kitchen and the tiles of the floor,” Panjim Station Fire Officer (SFO) Rupesh Sawant told O Heraldo.

Sawant said, “The flat had three occupants, all girls aged 20 year, 13 years and 10 years old. The youngest girl had kept water for heating in a plastic bucket. She did not inform her sister about that and they went to bed. The water became hot and evaporated. Then the bucket melted and so was the case with the washing machine kept adjacent to the bucket. The heat slowly passed on to the cooking gas cylinder kept close to the washing machine. When the eldest girl woke up, she realised that something was burning and the rooms were hot. Without making a delay, she called the Fire and Emergency Service, Panjim,” he said.

According to the Panjim SFO, both the parents are in government service and the quarter is old and not occupied by many. He said as the parents were not at home loss could not be estimated. He said the Fire and Emergency Service has written to the police to make an inquiry into the incident.

PWD assistant engineer Uma Narvekar told reporters that the lost estimate would be done by the officials concerned. ”I got the information at 10 am in the morning. The lost estimate would be done by the officials concerned. What appears to be a case of cylinder blast,” she said.