At least three people were killed and seven others injured in a blast at a hydrolic turbine at Harduaganj thermal power station in Qasimpura in Aligarh on Saturday. Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), Aligarh Range, Govind Agarwal said that the accident occurred when suddenly gas cylinders near the turbine exploded. Due to the blast, the power generation in the thermal police station has been stopped and a high-level probe ordered. However, some eye-witness claimed that the incident occurred when hydrogen gas cylinders burst when the turbine was being repaired.
Meanwhile, the state government has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakhs each to the families of the deceased while the injured will be given Rs 50,000 for treatment. A magisterial probe has been also instituted into the blast. Meanwhile, 13 people including four of a family were also killed in separate incidents reported since Friday evening. In Azamgarh, altogether 5 children met watery grave while bathing their live stocks in a pond near Bhairopur dargah under Atrauliya police station. Sources here said that, the children drowned when they went to the pond for bathing their live stocks.
The deceased have been identified as Prince(10), Monica(8), Shubham(10), Shikha(10) and Anshika(10). Two other children managed to come out of the water and they informed the villagers about the incident. Police has sent the bodies for postmortem. In another case reported from Balrampur, five people were killed and six others injured when a pick-up van collided head-on with a truck under city Kotwali area on Saturday.
Reports said that the van was carrying tents and other materials along with some labourers when the mishap took place on the Buddhist circuit road near Bijlipur village. Van driver, Aslam and labourers identified as Holi, Omkar, Kaushal and Babadin died on the spot. The injured have been admitted to hospital.In a separate case reported from Bhadohi, a woman allegedly set herself ablaze along with her three minor daughters in Gyanpur area. Reports said that Poonam Pandey (30) immolated herself along with her three daughters -- Gudia (6), Minni (4) and eight-month-old Ruhi -- in Khemaipur village on Friday evening. The bodies have been sent for post-mortem. The reason behind her extreme step is yet to be ascertained.