Mumbai: Five people were left injured on early Saturday morning after a septic tank of a community/public toilet exploded in Dharavi's PremNagar. According to BMC's disaster management unit (DMU), two of the five people injured were rushed to the nearby Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital, Sion.
The five injured were identified as Chandrashekhar Jaiswal, Kamlesh Jaiswal, Palchandra Dubey, Mohd. Mujib Khan and Hamid Khan. According to DMU, Chandrashekhar Jaiswal (28) and Mohd. Mujib Khan (29) were rushed to the LTMG Sion hospital.
"The incident occurred at around 8.30 am, however, we received the information about the incident from the local police station at 5.35 pm. We are investigating the matter," said a civic official from DMU.
Elaborating on the incident Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone V) Niyati Thakkar said, "The incident took place early in the morning when these people had gone to the toilet. The ammonia gas that was accumulated in one of the toilet chambers, blew off the cover of the septic tank injuring people in and around the toilet."
Three out of the five people injured in the incident were standing in the close proximity of the toilet according to the eyewitness. "The brick and mortar from the toilet blocks broke when the septic tank cover exploded and the flying pieces of bricks hit the three, injuring the three," Thakker confirmed.
Prem Nagar area is a densely populated slum. Over 1200 people in the locality use the 20 seater toilet where the incident on Saturday occurred. These toilet blocks were built in 2016-17.
Mani Balan, a resident of Dharavi, said: "Initially we thought it was a bomb explosion and so everyone started running out of their houses. It took us half an hour to realise that a septic tank in the toilet block had exploded. Residents are all very scared in Premnagar since the incident occurred."
