Explosion At Karnataka Stone Quarry Damages Over 15 Houses In Dakshin Kannada District

An explosion at a stone quarry in Madattadka village, Karnataka, damaged 15 houses nearby.

An explosion took place at a stone quarry in Karnataka's Dakshin Kannada district on Tuesday. (Representational Image)

Source : PTI

An explosion at a stone quarry in Karnataka left over 15 houses damaged nearby on Tuesday. According to the police, the explosion occured at the quarry in Madattadka village in Dakshin Kannada district allegedly after a cache of gelatin sticks stored for rock blasting detonated due to extreme heat. 

The incident occured at around 1:30 pm in Bantwal taluk, causing cracks at at least two houses within 100 meters of the explosion's epicentre due to its intensity, they added, reported PTI. 

The sound and tremors from the explosion were felt with a radius of 4 kilometres of the village. Additionally, 15 more houses located within a kilometre radius of the epicentre sustained damage, said the police. 

Intense Heat Triggered Explosion

As per the preliminary reports, intense heat triggered the explosion as it affected a cache of gelatin sticks stored for rock blasting. Around 200 gelating sticks and detonators had been kept in the middle of a pile of crushed stones in the quarry.

A company engaged in stone quarrying in the village owns the quarry, as per the PTI report. 

Senior police officers, including Superintendent of Police Yathish N and officials from the Bantwal police station, along with taluk officials, reached the site and conducted a probe. 

An investigation is underway to determine whether the storage of explosives was legal.