Blast in Kolkata house, woman seriously burnt

Kolkata, Sep 7 (IANS) A woman sustained serious burn injuries in a blast in the city's northeast suburb of Keshtopur.

The victim, the wife of a Kolkata Police inspector, was at home when the blast occurred.

The blast occurred on Friday night at 10:30 p.m. Such was the intensity of the blast that the victim Swati Roy - working in the kitchen - got 90 per cent burns while the window panes were shattered and a door was blown through, police said.

Debasish Roy, an inspector with the special Branch of Kolkata Police, had just returned to his residence at Hanapara when there was a loud explosion. On rushing to the kitchen, he found his wife ablaze and rushed her to a private hospital after dousing the flames with water.

"She has 90 per cent burns," a hospital official said.

Forensic experts, who visited the spot, suspect a gas leakage from an LPG cylinder that triggered the blast as the air-conditioner was on with all windows and doors shut.

In a statement to the police in hospital, the victim said the fire broke out as she tried to light up the cooking oven.