One aerospace engineer was killed and three others were injured on Wednesday after a Hydrogen cylinder exploded inside the Indian Institute of Science campus in Bengaluru. He has been identified as 32-year-old Manoj K, who was a native of Hyderabad.
“Around 2.20 pm, in one of our aerospace laboratories which is called Hypersonic and Shockwave Research (LHSR), there was an explosion which resulted in the death of one engineer working with a startup called Super-wave Technology. At this moment, two of the proprietors of the company are being interrogated by police,” MR Chandrasekhar, Chief Security Officer of the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru told TNM.
Kartik, Adulya and Naresh Kumar are grievously injured and are currently being treated at the MS Ramaiah Hospitals, police officials said. Hospital staff said all the three persons are being treated at the hospital's Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
Sadashivanagar Police Station is yet to file a First Information Report in the case and are in the process of establishing if it was an accident.
Apurba Paul, one research scholar in the Physics Department, works in a lab situated 500 metres away from the building where the explosion took place.
He said, "The sound of the explosion was little short of that of a thunderbolt. We could hear it even from inside the lab but at that time we did not realise that from where exactly the sound came."
According to its website, Super-wave Technology Private Limited (SWTPL) is an Indian Institute of Science initiative, promoted and managed by its directors, Professors KPJ Reddy and G Jagadeesh, both professors in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the IISc.
The company was exploring new techniques to extract gas using their shockwave technology and had got an agreement signed with the government-run Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) in 2015.
Other usages that the company are exploring include genetic material manipulations with injectables, assisted insemination in cows; and mechanised drying of leaves and other green products for industrial processes.