Mysterious blast injures 5 at InfoCity

AHMEDABAD: An office in InfoCity, Gandhinagar reported a major blast on Saturday afternoon where five of the firm's employees got burn injuries. While teams of Gandhinagar police and forensic science laboratory (FSL) reached the spot, the source of blast could not be known. The injured were first rushed to the Gandhinagar Civil Hospital and then to a private hospital in Ahmedabad for treatment.
Quill Electronics Pvt Ltd in Super Mall at InfoCity's first tower is located on the fourth floor. At 1.15 pm, a blast was heard by the entire tower as the false ceiling of Plaster of Paris (PoP) collapsed. The glass doors and windows got shattered as five of the employees in two rooms of the office got severely burnt. The impact was such that the glass windows of nearby offices and residences broke.
Soon, the office caught fire as a team of Gandhinagar Fire and Emergency Services (GFES) rushed on the spot with fire tender and dowser. Mahesh Mod, fire officer, GFES, told TOI that the fire was contained after two hours of firefighting. "Reason behind the blast is unknown yet. There are two possibilities - it might be the air-conditioner gas or the natural gas collected above the false ceiling. The air-conditioner was however found working," he said.
The injured include Maru Javiya, 23, Chirag Modi, 24, Bhavik Shukla, 26, Mansukh Mer, 47 and Bharat Odedara, 51. All were employees of the firm that reported fire, said officials.
A team of Sector 7 police station roped in the FSL team to know the cause of the blast. "Primarily, we reported blast in the air-conditioning unit after which the fire spread in the ceiling and furniture of the office. Investigation however is on for the source of the blast," said an investigator.
Due to the intensity of the blast and the areas where it was heard, a wave of panic spread in the InfoCity area fearing a bomb blast. Speculations were rife about an LPG blast due to its intensity but when the investigators confirmed that there was no LPG cylinder in vicinity, the theory was ruled out.