PANJIM: Panjim police have booked a case of criminal negligence against a youth for endangering lives of people after a leaked gas cylinder pipe burst during the early hours of Thursday.
Jeston Silveira, 27, faces charges under sections 336 (endangering life or personal safety of others) and 427 (mischief causing damage) of the Indian Penal Code.
The blast on the second floor of Phase II, Kamat Complex at Tonca – Caranzalem prompted an immediate response from the fire department and police, who rushed to the site evacuating the residents. The authorities were alerted at about 6 am.
Fire tenders doused the fire and used smoke exhausters to clear the apartment and its adjoining portions. “The area was engulfed in thick smoke. There was no visibility because of which we had to use smoke exhauster. This took us some time to clear the smoke,” a fire personnel, part of the rescue team, said.
Panjim police, along with Anti-Terrorist Squad and Bomb Disposal Squad, simultaneously rushed to the site. After nearly two hours of inspections, the teams concluded there was no foul play.
The youth lives in a society that has piped cooking gas but had brought home a gas cylinder and had wrongly used the regulator and the pipe leading to a leak. “This negligence could have claimed lives. The regulator and the pipe were damaged causing leakage that ultimately led to the blast. His flat, as well as the neighbouring flats, in the society were damaged. The loss is estimated at around Rs 50 lakh,” Panjim PI Siddhant Shirodkar said.
Speaking to media persons earlier in the day, Silveira, whose parents live abroad, said he was oblivious about the cause of the blast.
