A person died and three others were injured in a huge explosion due to leakage from a gas pipeline in Palwal in Haryana on Tuesday, officials said.
The explosion happened near Lala Lajpat Rai Park on Old GT Road while a government earth-moving machine was fixing a water pipeline near a tea shop leading to a stampede at the site, they said.
Several shops, one of them a three-storey building, were completely burnt, several vehicles, including a JCB, were also damaged in the fire and total loss due to the blaze is said to be worth crores.
Four fire brigade vehicles reached the spot and controlled the fire after two hours of effort, they added.
The police and officials of the district administration rushed to the spot to control the crowd.
According to police, a 10 feet long and eight feet wide pit was dug using an excavator to fix a water pipeline leakage around noon on Tuesday.
Later, all the workers of the public health department came out of the pit after fixing the leakage.
While the pit was being refilled with the JCB, a PNG pipeline nearby got damaged and started leaking rapidly.
Before people could react, the gas from the stove of the teashop likely caught fire and exploded, the police said.
This led to a stampede among the shopkeepers and other people, they said. -- PTI