5 killed, 7 injured after gas leak, blast at Asia's biggest shipbreaking yard in Gujarat

Ahmedabad: Five people were killed and at least two injured Saturday in a gas explosion at Asia's largest shipbreaking yard on the west coast of India, police said.

The accident occurred as a group of labourers were breaking up a ship at a yard in Alang, in the state of Gujarat.

"Five people have died following the explosion due to gas leakage in the ship on which they were working," Maninder Pratap Singh Pawar, a senior police officer from Bhavnagar district, told AFP.

"Out of the five, two died on the spot while three succumbed to burn injuries in the hospital," Pawar added.

The two injured were being treated at a government hospital in Bhavnagar, about 240 kilometres (150 miles) from Ahmedabad.

Police officials said an investigation was underway and the exact cause of the gas leak was not yet known.

Alang, which has been called the graveyard of ships, recycles thousands of vessels from around the world.