SHIMOGA: Five quarry workers were charred to death after gelatin sticks loaded on a truck exploded near Hunsodu, 7km from Shimoga late Thursday night.
"Five people have died in the explosion at a quarry in Hunasodu village of Shivamogga on Thursday. A compensation of Rs 5 lakh each has been announced for kin of the deceased," said chief minister BS Yediyurappa.
The truck was transporting gelatin sticks or stone-blasting material to a quarry in the region owned by a local businessman. The vehicle is believed to have been parked at the time and the labourers were resting.
The explosion occurred around 10.20pm. There were nearly 100 quarrying sites in the vicinity.
The blast caused damage to homes of most residents in Hunasodu.
"Pained by the loss of lives in Shimoga. Condolences to bereaved families. Praying that the injured recover soon. State govt is providing all possible assistance to the affected," tweeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Police detain two quarry ownersPolice detained stone crusher owner Sudhakar on Thursday night while business partner Gandhada Maneya Narashima was arrested on Friday morning, sources said.
The duo had taken the land on lease from Avinash Kulkarni and were involved in the stone crushing business for the past few years. Police said that the duo were history-sheeters who have criminal charges in various police stations in the district.
The police have cordoned off the area. A bomb squad and a forensic expert team from Bengaluru have reached the spot.
Ran out of house, it felt like a quake, says DCSuch was its impact that windowpanes were shattered and buildings damaged in parts of Shimoga and Chikkamagaluru districts in the Malnad region. Shimoga DC KB Sivakumar said he ran out of his home fearing a quake, as did many other residents.
Police sources said bodies found on the spot were charred beyond recognition and the truck blown to smithereens.
The jolt was initially mistaken to have been caused by an earthquake.
Shimoga Rural MLA KB Ashok Naik said about a dozen labourers were reportedly travelling in the truck. Pungent fumes were emanating from the site and officers did not want to run the risk of entering the site in complete darkness, he said.
No earthquake reported: KSNDMCManoj Rajan, director, the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) released a statement saying there was no earthquake reported in the area.
Local residents came out of their houses to find out what had happened.
"Data from the nearby seismic stations at Udupi and Mangaluru have been collected and there was no seismic activity recorded. Also, information was sought from the National Centre for Seismology, New Delhi wherein no seismic activity was reported by them too," he said.
"The reason might be that the activity was felt from a very shallow depth, possibly less than 5km and also the magnitude on the Richter Scale was less than 1.0, so it wasn't recorded by any seismometer," he stated.
(With inputs from Udaya Kumar)
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