Infant dies after gas leak causes fire at Ghaziabad home

GHAZIABAD: A six-month-old boy died and five others were seriously injured after a gas leak, possibly fanned by a cooler, sparked a blaze that swept through their one-bedroom house in Hindon Vihar on Wednesday morning.Police said the fire erupted around 7.30am, when the family was having tea and preparing to make breakfast.Pramod, a labourer, and his wife Renu (26) lived in the room with their two sons - Kanha (2) and six-month-old Laddu. Pramod's brother-in-law Ajay Pal (25) arrived in the city a week ago in search of a job. He was staying with them for the time. Pramod's friend Deepak (22), who was employed under him, was visiting their house on Wednesday morning.Sahibabad ACP Rajneesh Upadhyay said cops were alerted about the blaze around 8.30am. "Pramod and his family resided in a 10x12 (feet) room on the ground floor of a two-storey building in Neelmani Colony. They had designated a kitchen area on one side, while the remaining space was occupied by a bed and a cot. An air cooler was placed on the window above the kitchen area," the ACP said.According to preliminary investigation, the ACP said, Renu had served tea to others and went back to the kitchen to make breakfast. "She lit a matchstick when the gas leak triggered the fire. The cooler was operational, causing it to spread," he said.The ACP added that the "blaze turned into a massive fireball as gas had spread to every inch of the room... and the cloud of gas exploded like a balloon, gutting everything in its path". (With inputs from Riddhima Gupta in New Delhi)