Loni house explosion: Two more succumb, death toll now five

The death toll from a house explosion in Loni area here rose to five after two more people succumbed during treatment, police said on Friday.

Ghaziabad: The death toll from a house explosion in Loni area here rose to five after two more people succumbed during treatment, police said on Friday.

Imran (16), Aleena (12) and Alisha (10) were killed in the September 23 incident that happened in a two-storey house near Roopnagar colony, they said.

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Of the injured, Mehwish (40) died in the GTB Hospital on Tuesday while Geeta (27), of Delhi’s Karwal Colony, succumbed on Thursday, ACP (Loni) Rajneesh Upadhyay said on Friday.

The other injured — Shaista (40), Norrie (18) and Fardeen (18) — are in critical condition and undergoing treatment at the hospital, police said.

After the blast, a special drive was launched following the orders of Police Commissioner Ajay Kumar Mishra to unearth the illegal firecracker units which are being run without licence.

The ACP said at the time of the explosion, workers were making illegal firecrackers in the factory of Sharik.

He got an order from utensils trader Vikas Goel of Farukhnagar town, who was supplying firecrackers to shopkeepers of Delhi’s Sadar Bazar, Upadhyay said.

Apart from this Goel was supplying explosives and other raw material to Arshad for making firecrackers in Loni, he said.

Sharik and Vikas Goel were arrested on September 25, the ACP said.

Meanwhile, DCP rural Vivek Chand Yadav had earlier said house owner Shakeel had rented out his house to Sharik in which daily wage labourers were making firecrackers.

As per the statement of the victim’s family member, a cooking gas cylinder exploded while they were cooking food at around 11.30 am in their house on Saturday.

The neighbours told the police that the house which collapsed was used for making illegal firecrackers.