Three members of a family were killed and one neighbour critically injured after a gas cylinder explosion triggered a massive fire at a house in Vasundhara Residency under the New Mandi Kotwali area of Muzaffarnagar on Monday evening.
The victims have been identified as Amit Gaur (40), a kanungo posted in Deoband tehsil of Saharanpur district, his elder brother Nitin Gaur (45), and their mother Sushila (65). According to officials, the three were inside the house when the cylinder exploded, causing a loud blast followed by a fire that engulfed the premises.
A neighbour, Aditya Rana, who rushed in to help after noticing smoke, sustained severe burn injuries and was admitted to Begrajpur Medical College, where his condition is stated to be serious.
At the time of the incident, Amit Gaur’s wife Richa and daughters Akshika and Aradhya were out for a walk in the colony with their pet dog. Locals alerted them after spotting smoke billowing from the house. As they ran back, the explosion occurred.
Amit Gaur, a resident of Shamli, had moved into the rented house barely two months ago. Fire brigade teams and police rushed to the spot, brought the blaze under control and recovered three bodies from the house.
SP City Satyanarayan Prajapat confirmed that the deaths were caused by a gas cylinder explosion. The incident has cast a pall of grief over the locality.
