Blast in old building wrecks shops, injures elderly woman and workers
Hyderabad: A gas cylinder blast in Medchal town on Monday night left one man dead and three others injured after a building collapsed, crushing three shops near the market road junction.
The blast occurred around 9:30 p.m. in a decades-old structure belonging to local resident Sriramulu Goud, situated off the national highway. The building housed two flower shops and a mobile phone store in the front, with a residence at the rear where Goud’s sister Tirupatamma, 55, lived.
Local accounts said the cooking gas cylinder detonated with a loud noise, triggering the collapse of the structure. Flying debris struck a passerby—an unidentified man in his 40s—who suffered severe injuries and died while being rushed to the hospital.
Tirupatamma, trapped under the rubble, sustained burn injuries and was rescued after a delay. Rafeeq, 29, a worker at a nearby stationery shop, suffered a fractured arm after a wall section fell on him. Dinesh, 25, employed at the mobile store, also sustained injuries.
Police said a borewell truck parked in front of the building at the time absorbed part of the blast’s impact, potentially preventing more damage to adjacent shops and saving pedestrians. Still, a few debris fragments struck a closed shop across the road, damaging its shutter.
The explosion sent shockwaves through the market area, with several shops already closed and others scrambling to shut. Residents reported panic and confusion before emergency services reached the scene.
Medchal CI Satyanarayana led the police team to the site. Officers inspected the damage and shifted the injured to local hospitals.