27 June 2014

INDIA PIPELINE BLAST KILLS 15 PEOPLE, GUTS HOUSES

Flames rise after a blast in a gas pipeline belonging to GAIL in Nagaram village of Andhra Pradesh's East Godavari district on June 27, 2014.
A state-owned gas pipeline exploded and burst into flames Friday, killing at least 15 people, destroying homes and forcing the evacuation of neighboring villages in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, authorities said.
Flames rose more than 80 feet (25 meters) into the air, scorching the tops of coconut and palm trees and sending dense black clouds of smoke into the sky, witnesses said. Villagers ran out of their homes and crowded the streets. Scores of houses and shops were gutted, officials said.
In this image taken from video, flames rise in the background of houses after a state-owned gas pipeline exploded in Nagaram village, in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh Friday, June 27, 2014. A top official of the state-run Gas Authority of India Ltd, said more than a dozen people died in the fire following the explosion in the pipeline.

State Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu said the death toll rose to 15 when one of the injured succumbed to burn injuries.
Vandana Chanana, a top official of state-run Gas Authority of India Ltd., said 14 other people were injured in the fire in the state's East Godavari district. Doctors said at least five of the injured were in critical condition, company officials said.
Flames rise after a blast in a gas pipeline belonging to GAIL in Nagaram village of Andhra Pradesh's East Godavari district on June 27, 2014.
Andhra Pradesh Home Minister N. Chinna Rajappa said the explosion occurred at about 5:30 a.m. in Nagaram village, the site of a connecting station for the gas company.
The fire burned for more than three hours before it was brought under control, Rajappa said.
"The extent of damage is being assessed," he said.
Company officials said it was too early to say what caused the explosion. In New Delhi, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the federal government has set up a panel to investigate the cause.
A victim of a blast in a gas pipeline belonging to GAIL in Andhra Pradesh's East Godavari district on June 27, 2014.

Nagaram residents said they had complained that the gas pipelines had not been properly maintained, but were ignored.
"People are angry that GAIL authorities didn't pay heed when they complained that the pipes had become rusty," Ramakrishnudu told reporters.
Residents of neighboring villages were evacuated to safer areas, said East Godavari district collector Neetu Kumari Prasad.
Nagaram is about 560 kilometers (350 miles) east of the state capital, Hyderabad.
Two weeks ago, six people were killed and 29 others injured in an explosion and a subsequent gas pipeline leak at India's biggest government-run steel plant in the central Indian state of Chattisgarh.   (AP)                                                                                        
Firemen try hard to douse a fire that broke out after a blast in a gas pipeline belonging to GAIL in Andhra Pradesh's East Godavari district on June 27, 2014.

People gather at the site of a pipeline explosion in Nagaram village, India, Friday, June 27, 2014. A state-owned gas pipeline exploded and burst into flames Friday, killing at more than a dozen people, destroying homes and forcing the evacuation of neighboring villages in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, authorities said.
People gather at the site of a pipeline explosion in Nagaram village, India, Friday, June 27, 2014. A state-owned gas pipeline exploded and burst into flames Friday, killing at least 15 people, destroying homes and forcing the evacuation of neighboring villages in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, authorities said.
In this image taken from video, people gather on a street in Nagaram village, in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh after a state-owned gas pipeline exploded Friday, June 27, 2014. A top official of the state-run Gas Authority of India Ltd, said more than a dozen people died in the fire following the explosion in the pipeline.
Indian residents gather at the site of a gas explosion in Nagaram on June 27, 2014. A massive explosion on a state-owned gas pipeline running through the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh killed at least 16 people and gutted scores of homes, a state minister said. "At least 16 people are dead. We have recovered 13 bodies so far," state home minister N. Chinna Rajappa told AFP after the blast near a refinery in the East Godavari district.

Indian residents gather at the site of a gas explosion in Nagaram on June 27, 2014. A massive explosion on a state-owned gas pipeline running through the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh killed at least 16 people and gutted scores of homes, a state minister said. "At least 16 people are dead. We have recovered 13 bodies so far," state home minister N. Chinna Rajappa told AFP after the blast near a refinery in the East Godavari district.