A view of the restaurant near Kaloor Stadium where a man died and four others were injured, reportedly after a food steamer exploded during cooking on February 6.
| Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT
A man died and four others were injured reportedly after a food steamer used for cooking exploded at a restaurant near the Kaloor Stadium on Thursday around 3.30 p.m.
The deceased was identified as Sumith, an employee from West Bengal. The injured employees remain admitted at a private hospital nearby. Eyewitnesses claimed to have heard a loud explosion from the restaurant’s kitchen leaving the customers panicked.
“Probably pressure variation led to the explosion of the steamer. But what caused that variation remains to be verified. There was no fire outbreak in the wake of the explosion. We arranged for shifting the injured to the hospitals in ambulances with the help of the local people,” said the Gandhi Nagar fire station sources. A team led by district fire officer K. Harikumar carried out the rescue works.
A customer said that the powerful explosion seemed to have ripped through the part of the cafe’s wall. He also claimed that ambulances were late to arrive because of which some of the injured had to be shifted by a car.
The Palarivattom police said that a case, probably for negligence, would be registered. Fortunately, no customers were injured and neither the gas cylinder in the kitchen exploded. We are probing whether the cafe had been complying with the safety norms, said the police. A forensic team will also inspect the cafe shortly.
Published – February 06, 2025 09:26 pm IST