Prayagraj: At least four children of a family died and a youth was seriously injured with 90 per cent burns when a two-storey house collapsed following a domestic LPG cylinder explosion in Malwa block of Fatehpur district on Monday evening.Expressing grief over the tragedy, CM Yogi Adityanath announced Rs 2 lakh ex gratia for the kin of each deceased and Rs 50,000 for the injured. He also directed officials to ensure proper treatment of the injured and expressed hope for his early recovery.The blast occurred around 5 pm when dinner was being prepared at the residence of Suresh Gupta alias Chunnar, a fruit and vegetable vendor, Superintendent of Police Abhimanyu Manglik said.The explosion brought down the two-storey building, trapping family members under debris and affecting several nearby houses, the SP added.A senior police officer told TOI that at least 10 members of a family were living in the building, and nine of them were present at the time of the incident.Police said that Suresh Gupta (45), his wife Manno (40), their daughter Laxmi (18), and another family member, Puja (40), managed to escape.After being alerted about the house-collapse incident, joint teams of the police and fire department rushed to the spot and carried out rescue operations with the help of villagers. The rescuers pulled out all the trapped persons and took them to a hospital for treatment.Doctors declared four of them dead, while the condition of another injured person was stated to be critical.The deceased were identified as Kunal (18), Arpit (15), Yash (7) and Ved (7), all residents of Malwa. The critically injured Alok Gupta (25) was admitted to hospital.The beams of two nearby houses were also damaged in the explosion. A team of SDRF was also called in to assist with the rescue operations.A team of forensic experts has been assigned to ascertain the exact cause of the blast.
