3 killed in Thane slum fire; LPG cylinder blasts gut 30 huts

THANE: Three persons were killed in a major fire that broke out in a slum cluster in Maharashtra’s Thane district, triggering multiple LPG cylinder explosions, a civic official said on Saturday. The blaze erupted around 8.30pm on Friday in the Navghar area of Mira Bhayander, at the Indralok slum colony, chief fire officer of Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation Prakash Borade said. Flames were visible from a distance as the fire rapidly spread through the densely packed cluster of huts made of thatch and cloth, he said. Around 30 to 35 huts were gutted in the incident, while several gas cylinders exploded during the blaze. Fire personnel removed 24 cylinders from the site, some filled and others empty, the official said. Firefighters battled the blaze for nearly an hour before bringing it under control, Borade said. The three victims were charred beyond recognition, and their bodies have been sent to a government hospital for postmortem, he added. The exact cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained.