Huge explosion rocks Jalandhar after illegally-stored crackers catch fire
Ajay Joshi
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, October 28
Exactly 13 months after the Maqsudan police station bomb blast, a high-intensity explosion, caused after a large consignment of crackers caught fire, rocked the Baba Mohan Das residential colony here on Sunday night.
The blast, reported at around 8.45 pm, left at least 15 houses partially damaged. The magnitude of the explosion—which occurred in an empty plot— was so high that its sound was heard even at a 10-km radius, said a fire brigade official, who reached the spot immediately after the explosion.
As many as 30 boxes, weighing 50 kg each, had been placed in the plot since the past 2-3 months, say residents.
The Deputy Commissioner, senior police officials, including the Commissioner of Police, and a bomb squad arrived at the spot to take stock of the situation after the blast.
The explosion caused panic among the residents of the colony. “After the explosion our windows were broken, the entry gates and vehicles were completely damaged and all the glass ceilings fell to the ground,” a resident said
An eyewitness said that pellet-like structures scattered in the air after the blast that also uprooted trees.
A major tragedy was averted as no casualties were reported to have occurred.
After conducting the preliminary investigation, Commissioner of Police, Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, said:”Apparently the blast occurred from the bulk quantity of Chinese, banned firecrackers that were kept in the plot and the terror angle couldn’t be ruled out at this stage. The forensic teams accompanied by the bomb squad have confirmed that these were low-intensity crackers that could have possibly caused serious destruction when exploded in large quantity”.
