Oxygen cylinder explosion: Jewellery shop worker killed

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: A Jewellery shop worker was killed after an oxygen cylinder exploded at his workplace in Nagarathpet here.

An FIR was registered against the shop owners and the building owner following the incident. The incident took place on Thursday afternoon in the Halasuru Police Station Limits in Bengaluru and the deceased was identified as Vishnu Sawanth, 36, a native of Maharashtra. It was revealed that the owner of the shop was not present during the incident.

The jewellery shop used oxygen and LPG cylinders to melt the gold. Vishnu reportedly left the valve of the oxygen cylinder open and went to have lunch with his wife, Vyjayanthi. The cylinder exploded due to an increase in pressure, sources from the police said on Friday.

"Vishnu suffered severe injury to his head following the cylinder blast and died because of bleeding," the officials said. It was revealed that Vishnu’s wife, who was coming out of the shop at the time of the incident, was also injured. She is currently undergoing treatment at a private hospital. Vishnu and Vyjayanthi were working in the jewellery shop for over a year, sources said.

The police have registered a case against shop owners Ramesh Kotari, Mahesh Kotari, the building owner, and three others based on the complaint given by Narendra Soni, who worked at the shop. The police are investigating if the shop had a license from the department to use oxygen cylinders at the shop.