Houses gutted in cooking gas explosion in Kollam, no casualties reported

Kollam: A cooking gas explosion, possibly set off by an electric spark inside a tarpaulin-roofed shack at Altharammoodu near Thangassery in Kollam on Thursday evening, spread out and fully burnt down three neighbouring shacks and partially damaged four. No one has been injured. The affected families have been shifted to the nearby 'Pakalveedu', a recreation space created by the Corporation for the elderly in the area. 

"No one was in the house in which the gas explosion took place," said Stanley J, Thangassery ward councillor. The original cause of the explosion has still not been ascertained. 

"The people in the other houses had come out seeing the smoke and so when the explosion happened and the blaze spread out to their homes in a flash, they managed to run for safety," he said. It also helped that four units of the Fire and Rescue Services from Chamakkada, less than a kilometre from the spot, were quick to reach the spot.

The fire erupted right in the middle of a squatter settlement along a pond called Kaikkulam at Altharammoodu. 

"There are 30-odd houses in the poromboke land on either side of Kaikkulam. Though we had been trying for long, these families have not yet secured 'patta' for the land. They have been living here for over 40 years," Stanley said.

It looks like most of the affected families have lost all their belongings in the fire. "Everything looks gutted in at least three houses. Money, jewellery, documents, textbooks, sheets, and all that is important to a family have been charred beyond recognition. The losses should be officially accounted for," George Fernandez, a local resident said. "In a sense they are lucky as the fire had taken place in the middle of the local body polls," he said.