Midnight blaze sparks panic in neighbourhood; oxygen 'missiles' rain over Kankurgachi
Telegraph | 19 December 2025
A blaze at an oxygen cylinder warehouse triggered multiple explosions in a crowded residential zone in Kankurgachi early on Thursday.
As the fire escalated, several cylinders burst one after another, with some launching like missiles, landing on the terraces of neighbouring buildings at Ghoshbagan Lane around 2am. Window panes in some buildings crashed under the impact of the explosions.
According to police, no one got trapped or injured; however, many people residing near the storage facility became alarmed and evacuated their residences.
Fifteen fire engines were deployed to extinguish the blaze, the police said.
Fire and emergency services department officials said there was a lot of iron scrap and inflammable articles inside the godown that easily caught fire.
“We did not see any firefighting equipment in the godown. The cause of the fire was yet to be confirmed,” said Tarun Dutta, divisional officer (North) of the fire and emergency services department.
The forensic team will be able to ascertain the cause of the fire.
The team will be able to visit the spot only after the godown cools off, a firefighter said.
Several residents in the neighbourhood stated that they were awakened by sounds of explosions, and the first thing they saw from their windows was enormous flames.
“We were all asleep when we heard a very loud sound. For a moment, we thought it was a terror attack,” said Kaushik Dasgupta, 54, an architect who lives with his family on the first floor of a building next to the godown.
“One of the cylinders landed on our terrace and broke flower pots and our DTH dish,” he said.
Dasgupta said his immediate concern was to get his family out.
“I told my wife and daughter to vacate the house immediately. From the window, I could see a massive fire. My wife even checked whether our gas connection was turned off before we rushed downstairs,” he said.
As oxygen cylinders came flying through windows and crashed on or outside homes, most of the people felt it was safer to be outside than to become sitting ducks inside their homes.
Dinesh Singrodia, 71, a resident of a G+4 building where more than 25 people live, said the initial explosion sounded like an electrical fault.
“At first, I thought it was a streetlight fault, but the sound kept on increasing. When we looked from the balcony, we saw that the cylinder godown was on fire,” he said.
“With cylinders landing anywhere they could, our priority was to vacate the house. The children were terrified. We stayed on the street from 2am till 5am, until firefighters finally brought the blaze under control,” Singrodia added.