The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : `Blast' near railway track, goat killed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 15, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

`Blast' near railway track, goat killed

Staff Reporter

Forensic experts rule out sabotage

WHODUNNIT? The site of explosion close to the railway track near Sanjeevaiah Park . Photo: K. Gajendran

HYDERABAD: Anxious moments were witnessed after a mysterious explosion killed a goat beside the railway track near Sanjeevaiah Park here on Thursday.

Though no person was injured, the blast kept the city police on tenterhooks for some time. But, everyone heaved a sigh of relief when forensic experts ruled out possibility of sabotage and said it could be an accidental blast.

A petty vendor, Abdul Samad, who lives in Vikar Manjil locality, adjacent to the railway track, was about to have his lunch when he heard a loud sound. When he rushed to the spot, he found the damaged trunk of the goat beside a huge rock that broke into two pieces apparently due to the explosion.

The goat's head was blown off as the blast was heard as far as 2 km.

Police version

The police believe the explosive substance went off due to friction when the goat tried to bite it mistaking it for fodder. Granules collected from the site indicated that the explosive substance could be ammonium nitrate mixed with some liquid fuel like petrol, the Ramgopalpet Inspector, M. Srinivasa Rao, said.

The police say that labourers of construction industry generally use small lumps of this mixture by inserting a non-electric detonator for demolishing buildings and blasting rocks. The empty space between the railway track and the adjoining Necklace road was being used for dumping garbage.

Detectives suspect that abandoned explosive material along with the debris might have resulted in the blast.

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