IIT Bombay gas cylinder explosion leaves five injured on campus

Five people, including two children, were hospitalised on Thursday night after a gas cylinder leaked and caught fire inside a workers' shed on the IIT Bombay campus in Powai.

The incident occurred at approximately 10:24 pm in a temporary housing unit used by private construction labourers near Hostel No. 6. According to emergency details provided by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), a leak from a gas cylinder pipe led to a sudden, violent flare-up that quickly engulfed the living space.

While some initial reports from civic officials suggested that the cylinder exploded while the workers were cooking, the exact sequence of events is still being mapped out by local authorities.

What happened at Hostel No. 6?

Emergency services acted swiftly to transport the five injured victims to Rajawadi Hospital. As their conditions were assessed, four of the patients were transferred to Kasturba Hospital, which is equipped with a specialised burns unit. One of the adult victims remains under treatment at Rajawadi Hospital.

Medical staff at both facilities reported on Friday morning that all five patients are currently in a stable condition.

The temporary shed was housing labourers working on one of the ongoing construction projects on the sprawling Powai campus. Such temporary settlements are a common sight across major development projects in Mumbai, though they frequently attract scrutiny over fire safety and basic living conditions.

Who was injured in the fire?

The injured have been identified as nine-year-old Tahjib Aalam and 12-year-old Ansh Ahirwar, along with three young men working at the site: Anilkumar Yadav, 23, Shivkumar Singh, 34, and Ishwar Singh, 37.

It is Ishwar Singh who remains at Rajawadi Hospital, while Yadav, Shivkumar Singh, and the two children are being treated at Kasturba Hospital.

What happens next?

Local police and BMC ward officers were mobilised immediately following the late-night alert. They secured the area surrounding Hostel No. 6 and ensured the fire did not spread to the main student hostels or academic blocks of the premier technology institute.

Neither the IIT Bombay administration nor the municipal corporation has yet commented on whether the temporary housing met safety standards, or what measures are being taken to prevent similar incidents. The investigation into the precise cause of the gas leak is ongoing.