A man was killed on Sunday when the wall of his flat collapsed after liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) leaking from a cylinder in his neighbour's house exploded in Pimpri Chinchwad township in Maharashtra's Pune district, police said.
Seven persons from both the families were injured in the incident which occurred in morning, an official said, adding that the LPG cylinder remained intact.
Prima facie, the blast occurred after a woman switched on an electric switch in her house located in a housing society in Dighi area, he said.
Police suspect the gas was leaking from the cylinder over night.
The blast took place in the flat belonging to Surwade family, but a person from Temkar family, residing in the adjoining apartment, died after the common wall collapsed due to the blast impact, the official said.
"The explosion took place around 7.30 am when one Archana Surwade switched on the electric switch in her flat.
The explosion was so powerful that the common wall between the flats of Surwades and Temkars collapsed," Dighi police station's senior inspector Vivek Lawand said on Sunday night.
Prima facie, the woman did not turn on the gas stove as believed earlier, but switched on the electric switch which led to the explosion as the gas was leaking from the cylinder and accumulated inside her flat, he said.
Dnyaneshwar Temkar, who might have been near the wall, got trapped under its debris and died on the spot, he said.
His eight-year-old daughter also received injuries, the official said.
Archana Surwade was seriously injured as she received around 80 per cent burns. Five other members of her family also received injuries, the official said.
