Journalism of Courage
An explosion suspected to have originated in the garbage duct of a residential building in Kharadi early on Thursday damaged the elevator assembly,window and door panes on six floors of the 12-storey building,police said.
The primary examination by the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) has pointed towards the trapped gas that had emanated from the decomposing garbage.
Fire officer Ramesh Gangad said,We got a call around 3.30 am. By 3.45 am we started our operation. Prima facie it looked as if the fire was due to explosion of trapped gas. The glass window panes were broken and the door opening towards the staircase and those of the lift from sixth to twelfth floor had bent due to the force of the expanding gas due to explosion.
Deputy commissioner of police (Zone IV) Manoj Patil said,The garbage chute has an opening on the 12th floor. We suspect the gas to have entered the lift duct as it came out of the this opening. As of now we do not know where the spark ignited the gas. But the maximum damage is on the sixth floor. Fortunately,no person was around the lift when the explosion took place. Looking at the way the expanding gas has caused the damage we can rule out the presence of any explosive substance. But tests are being carried out for all the possibilities.
A senior BDDS officer said,We have said in our primary report that the explosion was caused by the trapped gas that came out from decomposing wet garbage.
Prema A Ghosarwadkar of the regional forensic lab said,We have taken samples from all the floors. We will test the swabs for any kind of explosive substance. We will submit our reports to the police soon.
Sandeep Arora,marketing head,B U Bhandari Landmarks,said,We are helping the police in the probe. Though the lift doors have got damaged,the lift car is intact. And in spite of the explosion,electric supply was not interrupted.
