Naugachia area in Bhagalpur tense after blasts in LPG-laden truck

BHAGALPUR: Panic struck in Naugachia area following several blasts in a LGP-laden truck near Satish Nagar locality on Naugachia-Khagaria road (NH-80) in the wee hours on Wednesday.
The deafening sounds and flames continued for more than an hour in the darkness. Panic-stricken villagers, residents of nearby localities, apprehending some terror attack alerted the police, who rushed to the spot.
Driver of the ill-fated truck Mantu Yadav was charred to death on the spot even though he tried to escape and douse the flames that engulfed the truck.Following the incident, road traffic on both the sides of NH-80 came to a grinding halt for several hours and was resumed only after the flames were doused and the situation was brought under control.
Naugachia SDPO Dilip Kumar said, "There were blasts in LGP cylinders one after another on the truck. Police on getting information reached the spot and called the fire tenders to douse the flames which had spread in nearby localities. We are probing the incident and the debris is being removed to ease traffic flow."
The high blasts also damaged a roadside dhaba. A part of a burning LPG cylinder was blown over and fell on the campus of a nearby petrol pump. However, it did not cause any damage
Local sources said the LPG cylinders were of different oil companies.