Explosion in Desar,experts suspect geological disturbance

The residents of the area said this was the first ever incident of this type in the taluka. A visit by FSL officials suggested geological disturbance as a probable cause of the explosion. While thousands of villagers gathered at the spot on Saturday,FSL experts drew a parallel between similar explosions recorded at various other places across the state including certain areas of Saurashtra. “We found greyish black particles in the area and the tobacco plants around had withered. Leaves of a tree in the area had also wilted due to heat,” said A P Jani,scientific officer,FSL department,Vadodara.

He said “Prima facie,it could be result of a pressure caused by accumulated gases in the soil layers. Eight to 10 similar explosions have been recorded in Talala taluka of Junagadh. However,since this has happened for the first time in this region,we are not discarding the possibility of the use of explosive materials. We have collected the samples and will compare them with samples from similar explosions in other areas,” said Jani. The area will be under observation and geo-physicists will investigate the matter.