Nine devotees of Lord Ayappa suffered serious burn injuries as an LPG cylinder blew off at a Shiv temple in Karnataka's Hubballi, said the police on Monday.
The incident occurred on Sunday night in Sainagar in the city, according to the police. The devotees were sleeping in the temple when the tragedy struck the place, reported PTI.
All the injured were rushed to KIMS Hospital and their condition is said to be critical, as per the report. Police suspect that the devotees did not turn off the cylinder knob properly after cooking food which could have resulted in the blast.
The devotees were planning a trip to Sabarimala Lord Ayappa temple in Kerala.
On Saturday, four members of a family including two children died after a massive blaze erupted at a house in Madhya Pradesh's Dewas. The couple and the two children suffocated to death in their sleep after a suspected gas cylinder blast triggered a fire.
The blaze engulfed the ground floor of their rented house in Nayapura area of Dewas, 40 kilometres from Indore. The deceased was identified as Dinesh Carpenter (35), his wife Gayatri Carpenter (30), and their children Ishika (10) and Chirag (7) who were found dead on their bed.
Dewas Superintendent of Police (SP), Puneet Gehlot, said that a patrolling officer on duty informed the fire department and the police control room about the fire. Firefighters reached the scene shortly and extinguished the flames.
The fire was doused upon entering the house and the police found all four family members dead. A case has been registered and the matter is under investigation, said SP Gehlot.
The deaths are likely to have resulted from suffocation, as the victims’ bodies were not severely burned, Gehlot told ABP News.
"The family might have been unable to escape due to being in deep sleep. The exact cause of death will only be determined after the postmortem reports are released," he added.