M A I N   N E W S

38 killed in Surat blast

Surat, August 3
At least 38 persons, including nine women, were killed and several injured when a powerful blast razed three residential buildings in the Varachha area of the city in the wee hours today.

Fire brigade sources here said 38 bodies had so far been pulled out of the rubble of the buildings.

Two adjoining buildings also came crashing down in the impact of the explosion, which occurred around 3.25 am on the ground floor of the building which housed a unit manufacturing instruments used in diamond industry, Additional Commissioner of Police Mohan Jha said.

A senior police official supervising rescue operations said the explosion might have been triggered by "extremely high pressure created due to the heat which could have gone more than 900 degrees celsius" in the unit manufacturing a tool for diamond cutting.

Mr K.C. Mehta, Assistant Commissioner (Finance) of Surat civic body, said there was apparently a furnace in the unit and the chimney attached to it had exploded.

Surat Police commissioner V K Gupta said the blast was prima facie the result of a powerful LPG cylinder explosion.

Sources said the rescue operations were likely to continue till early morning tomorrow and at least 10 more persons were trapped and feared dead. — PTI