On the evening of 6th April, a fire broke out in a dhaba (restaurant) built from thatch and polythene on Nadiha Road in Uttaripura village in Bilhaur police station area in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. The flames also engulfed another shop located nearby. A gas cylinder kept inside the shop also caught fire.

Meanwhile, some youngsters started making videos and reels instead of extinguishing the fire. During this suddenly the cylinder exploded and led to the death of one 19-year-old individual named Nikhil Rathore, and two others were injured. Three bikes and two shops were also destroyed in the blast.

Nikhil’s body was penetrated by a fragment of the cylinder and he passed away immediately. The wounded are being treated at the hospital. Those in the vicinity raced to the location as soon as they heard the explosion. The fire department was also notified by the people. The police arrived there and sent the injured to the hospital with the help of local people and the deceased was transported for postmortem. It took the fire department a long time to contain the fire.

According to the information received, there is a liquor store in the Uttaripura area surrounded by many meat, fish and egg shops. Three gas cylinders that were kept inside the dhaba caught fire at the same time and two of them exploded. Nikhil and another 18-year-old young man named Aman Chotelal who was there with his father Tulai started recording the occurrence only from a distance of 50 to 100 metres. However, the cylinder exploded due to the intense heat, killing Nikhil. The father and son also suffered grave injuries.

The injured have been admitted to the hospital. Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ajay Tiwari and police station in-charge Keshav Kumar Tiwari reached the spot on receiving the information of the incident. Bharatiya Janata Party leader and MLA Rahul Bachcha Sonkar also visited there and assured all possible assistance to the victim’s family.

Both the shopkeepers absconded from there after the instance. According to Inspector Keshav Kumar Tiwari, the injured were taken to the Community Health Centre (CHC) and after initial treatment, they were referred to Lala Lajpat Rai Hospital in Kanpur. Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Ajay Kumar Trivedi, Chief Fire Officer Deepak Sharma and Village Pradhan Abhijit Singh also showed up at the spot after learning of the tragic event.