Muscat: The explosion that occurred approximately around 7.15am, has left buildings in the neighbourhood shaken, goods in the showrooms broken, cars in the parking lot damaged and people injured.
Piecing the turn of events, Taher Paperwala of Shamil Ceramics, which has a showroom adjacent to the restaurant, said the accident happened when an employee of the restaurant opened the doors around 7.15am or so. “There was a loud blast,” he said, noting that the cooking gas might have been leaking over the night. It injured the employee, who was immediately rushed to the hospital.
The restaurant, which had opened its doors recently, had maintained three to four spare gas cylinders outside the building, said a worker employed in the neighbouring building.
The blast shook the buildings flanking the restaurant and damaged most of the products in the ceramics showroom; it even shattered windows of the top floor and damaged the building on the other side of the restaurant. According to Taher it might take a while to mend all the damages, and the buildings might even stand to get cancelled if it is beyond repair.
Fortunately, as it was a non-residential area and the accident happened in the early hours of the morning – before the restaurant opened for guests, and employees in other buildings got to work – the number of injuries was less, he pointed out. A colleague, who was residing on the top floor of the showroom, however, got cut by the window glass and needed medical attention.
The firefighting teams of the Civil Defense and Ambulance Authority (CDAA) managed to vacate the area and cordoned the zone. Safety measures were taken to halt traffic movement in the area, which also has a school in the vicinity.
