Shimoga Blast News: Shimoga DC Confirms Two Kills, Says Most Feared; quarry owners arrested | Bengaluru News

SHIVAMOGGA: Two quarry workers were charred to death after jelly sticks loaded into a truck exploded near Hunsodu, 7 km from Shimoga on Thursday night. Many more are feared to have died, authorities said.
The truck was transporting gelatin sticks or shot blasting material to a quarry in the region owned by a local businessman. The truck is believed to have been parked at the time and the workers were resting. There are about 100 quarries in the vicinity. The explosion occurred around 10:20 p.m.

“Initially it was observed that there were explosives in a vehicle parked here. It is being investigated why they were brought here. So far, we have recovered two bodies. It has been circulated in public that 10-15 died. But it is not proven by any facts,” he said Shimoga District Collector KS Eshwarappa.

“Grieving for the loss of life in Shivamogga. Condolences to the grieving families. Praying for the injured to recover soon. The state government is providing all possible assistance to those affected,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted.

Homeless, felt like an earthquake, says DC
Such was its impact that window panes were broken and buildings damaged in parts of the Shimoga and Chikkamagaluru districts in the Malnad region. Shimoga Deputy Commissioner KB Sivakumar said he ran out of his home in fear of an earthquake, as did many other residents.
Police sources said the bodies found at the scene were charred beyond recognition and the truck exploded into pieces.

Shimoga Rural MLA KB Ashok Naik said that about a dozen workers were riding in the truck. Penetrating fumes emanate from the site and officials do not want to risk entering the site in complete darkness, he said.
No earthquake reported: KSNDMC
Manoj Rajan, director of the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Center (KSNDMC) issued a statement saying that no earthquakes were reported in the area.

“Data has been collected from nearby seismic stations in Udupi and Mangaluru and no seismic activity was recorded. In addition, information was sought at the National Seismology Center in New Delhi, where no seismic activity was reported either,” he said.
“The reason could be that the activity was felt from a very shallow depth, possibly less than 5 km and also the magnitude on the Richter scale was less than 1.0, so it was not recorded by any seismometer,” he said.
Police arrest 2 quarry owners
Police detained the owner of the Sudhakar stone crusher on Thursday night, while business partner Gandhada Maneya Narashima was arrested on Friday morning, sources said.

The duo had taken the land on a lease from Avinash Kulkarni and were involved in the stone crushing business for the past few years. Police said the duo were storytellers who face criminal charges at various precincts in the district.
Police have cordoned off the area and expect the Bengaluru bomb squad and forensic expert team to arrive at the scene at 9 am.
(With input from Udaya Kumar)