Indian police hunt man who stored explosives next to restaurant destroyed by deadly blast
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 13 September, 2015, 7:19pm
UPDATED : Sunday, 13 September, 2015, 7:19pm
Agencies in New Delhi
A woman is consoled during the funeral of her father who died in the bast in central Madhya Pradesh state. Photo: Reuters
Police in central India were Sunday hunting a man blamed for a massive explosion at a restaurant that killed 90 people, as angry residents accused local authorities of ignoring complaints that explosives had been illegally stored in an adjacent building.
The explosion, one of the worst such accidents in recent years, on Saturday morning tore through the restaurant building complex in central Madhya Pradesh state, packed with office workers and school children having breakfast.
Scores of labourers waiting at a bus stand outside the complex were also hit with shooting debris from the blast in the town of Petlawad.
The state’s top elected official, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, had to face about 50 angry protesters when he visited the site of the explosions. The protesters, shouting slogans and waving black flags, forced Chouhan to step out of his car and listen to their complaints against local authorities for failing to enforce safety regulations.
Police initially thought the accident was triggered by an exploding gas cylinder in the restaurant, but officers now believe it originated in the warehouse next door. Photo: AP
Police officer Kamlesh Bamaniya said the protesters were also angry that Petlawad police had failed to arrest Rajendra Kashawa, a contractor who was accused of illegally storing the detonators.
Bamaniya said Saturday that Kashawa had died in the explosions. But yesterday, he said police had information that he was absconding. Police have filed a case of criminal negligence against Kashawa and are looking for him, Bamaniya said.
Kashawa had been given a license to purchase detonators for his business of digging wells, but had stored the detonators illegally in a room adjacent to the restaurant, Bamaniya said.
Residents said that they had earlier complained to Petlawad town authorities about Kashawa illegally storing explosives in the building, but that no action was taken against him.
Mass cremations were held for the victims of the powerful explosion. Photo: AFP
Seema Alava, a senior Jhabua district police official said police initially blamed a gas cylinder in the restaurant for the main explosion. But it now appeared gelatine sticks and other explosives illegally stored elsewhere in the complex accidently detonated, triggering a chain reaction, she said.
“It was the other way around. The explosives in the building exploded first... the extreme heat sparked a... chemical reaction and then that was it. Everything went off after that,” Alava said.
The building where the restaurant was located and an adjacent building were destroyed in the explosions.
Rescue workers working through the day Saturday extricated 90 bodies from under a huge heap of rubble.
Most of those killed in the explosions were poor laborers who were in the restaurant drinking tea as they waited to be hired by contractors to work in nearby manganese mines.
Around 100 other people were injured in the blasts and were taken to hospitals. At least 20 of them were in critical condition, Arun Sharma, a Madhya Pradesh state health official, said yesterday.
Mine operators are supposed to follow guidelines on the safe storage of detonators and other explosive materials but are often lax, and the district authorities rarely act against them, Bamaniya said.
Petlawad is about 950 kilometers south of New Delhi.
Associated Press, Agence France-Presse
