UP: Three dead, one injured in fire caused by cylinder blast in Muzaffarnagar

Muzaffarnagar (Uttar Pradesh) [India], December 30 (ANI): Three people died, including a 70-year-old woman, and one person was injured in a fire caused by cylinders exploding in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar, the police said.
The incident occurred on Monday at around 4:39 PM, after two cylinders caught fire and exploded.
Muzaffarnagar Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sanjay Kumar, told reporters, "A 70-year-old woman, Sushila Devi and her two sons, Amit and Nitin, have died after being caught in a fire. This incident occurred around 4:39 PM in Vasundhara Residency, located in the Nai Mandi police station area of Muzaffarnagar. The entire accident happened due to a blast in two cylinders."
"Police reached within four to five minutes of the incident. Proceedings for the inquest and postmortem are being ensured. Three people have died, and there is news of one person being injured, who is out of danger now," the police official added.
Further details on the probe are awaited.
In a similar incident in October, an explosion that caused a house to collapse in Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya, killing five people, including three children, officials said.
The incident occurred in a village under the Purakalandar police station area.
Ayodhya District Magistrate Nikhil Tikaram Funde said preliminary findings suggested that the blast, which caused the house to collapse, was likely triggered by a gas cylinder or a pressure cooker.
"We received information about an explosion and the collapse of a house's roof at around 7:15 pm. Local police and first responders immediately arrived at the spot and began clearing the debris and evacuating the victims. After the debris was removed, a total of five people were taken to the district hospital. All five were declared dead on arrival," DM Funde told ANI.
He added that no trace of gunpowder or firecrackers had been found at the site."The site has been cleared of all debris and searched. Prima facie, it appears to be a cylinder or cooker blast, as both have been found at the location. No trace of gunpowder or firecrackers has been found at the spot," he said.
Ayodhya Superintendent of Police Gaurav Grover said the house, located in the Pura Kalandar area and belonging to one Pappu Gupta, collapsed following the explosion.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had expressed grief after five people died in the explosion.
"The loss of lives in the unfortunate accident in Ayodhya is extremely heartbreaking. My condolences are with the bereaved families. I pray to Lord Shri Ram that he grants eternal peace to the departed souls, strength to the grieving families to bear this immense sorrow, and a speedy recovery to the injured," CM Yogi wrote on X. (ANI)