Explosion at Alang ship breaking yard in Gujarat, 5 dead, 10 injured

Bhavnagar: Five persons were killed and at least ten injured after an explosion occurred at the Alang ship breaking yard in Bhavnagar district in Gujarat.

Preliminary inquiries indicated that the explosion was caused by a gas leak at plot number 140, where ship breaking work was in progress. The leak is believed to have been triggered while the labourers were in the midst of dismantling a ship.

The injured labourers have been shifted to a hospital.

The blast comes a day after at least 16 persons were killed and nearly two dozen others injured when an apparently leaking gas pipeline of GAIL caught fire and triggered a blast in Nagaram village in the east Godavari district, about 560km from Hyderabad on Friday.

GAIL issued a statement after the explosion, saying that the reason for blast remains unclear but officials would investigate the tragedy. GAIL project director accompanied by his team and the Andhra Pradesh deputy CM rushed to the accident spot.

President Pranab Mukherjee and prime minister Narendra Modi condoled the tragedy. The Andhra Pradesh government has also ordered a probe into the mishap.

(With additional input from PTI)