Odisha petrol pump explosion: One succumbs to injury

Bhubaneswar: One of the 10 persons who had sustained serious burn injuries in the Wednesday’s petrol pump blast in Odisha capital Bhubaneswar died at SCB Medical College on Thursday morning.

The deceased was identified as Satya Nayak of Aska in Ganjam district.

The condition of another person who suffered 40 per cent burns and head injury is also critical while the remaining persons are stable, superintendent of SCB Medical College and Hospital, Dr Bhubananananda Maharana, said on Thursday. As many four persons who were among the persons present at the filling station were still missing.

Bhubaneswar-Cuttack police commissioner (CP) Dr Sudhansu Sarangi said the severed human organs recovered from the blast site will undergo DNA test to ascertain the identity of the missing persons.

“The human body parts recovered from the blast site by the forensic personnel will be put to DNA test to ascertain if they belonged to the missing persons,” the CP.

Meanwhile, the family of one Simanchal Parida, a youth from Ganjam district who has reportedly gone missing following the massive explosion at a petrol pump reached Bhubaneswar. They filed a missing complaint in the Capital Police station here.

The worried family members claimed that despite making several rounds at various hospitals in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, they are still unable to get any information regarding Simachal’s whereabouts.

A diploma engineer by training, Simachal was engaged in LPG maintenance work after he recently moved to Bhubaneswar from Kolkata where he earlier worked, said his family members. The explosion happened at 1.02 PM on Wednesday when Simanchal and others were doing the maintenance work at the CNG station of the filling station.

“My brother’s mobile phone has been switched off since the blast for which we could not establish any communication with him so far,” said Simanchal’s brother, Mangulu Parida.

Mangulu said he along with his relatives rushed to Bhubaneswar on Wednesday evening after hearing about the explosion at a fuel station in Bhubaneswar from television news channels.

“We initially went to Capital Hospital to search for him and after failing to get any information, we immediately left for SCB Medical College and Hospital. There too, we did not get any information regarding Simanchal,” Mangulu added.