Dubai’s Meena Bazaar reopens post laundry blast; 8 hurt still in hospital

The morning after, family and neighbouring retailers were no step closer to unravelling the mystery behind the Bur Dubai explosion that left a gaping hole in place of the front façade of Red Palace Laundry and injured eight people in the process.

The road leading up to ground zero has been reopened to traffic, with police barricades now removed and providing a sigh of relief to retailers facing one of their biggest sale periods in the weekend before Diwali.

 The morning after the blast in Meena Bazaar. All the remains of the laundry facade is a gaping hole.

However, what remains of the laundry itself are strewn clothes, sporadic blood stains and a number of questions as to what caused the high impact blast that took its steel enforced door off the hinges and slam into a passing laundry boy, Rajkumar, who remains “serious in Rashid Hospital,” according to one neighbouring retailer.

While the investigations are underway at Al Raffaa Police Station, family members of the laundry owner, K Gokaran, state authorities have detained him until the real cause if the blast is determined.

Gokaran’s nephew Vivek spoke to Emirates 24|7 saying: “We haven’t heard anything from the police as yet, but my uncle is cooperating as well as he can.”

The inside of the laundry, with clothes strewn everywhere

Putting together the pieces of the explosion that occurred approximately 12.30pm in Meena Bazaar, Bur Dubai’s bustling commercial and residential district, yesterday, he continued: “It was early afternoon, five of the staff members were working inside the laundry, while the remaining three injured were simply passing by.

“My uncle was not in the shop at the time, hence he escaped being burned.”

Eye witness accounts state there was a loud bang and as people poured out on to the streets to investigate, what they saw was nothing short of “horrific”.

Parmanand, who works in neighbouring Pinky Laundry said: “I first thought it was the sound of Diwali fireworks, but the hour just didn’t fit right. When I stepped outside to check, all I saw was shattered glass everywhere, with people screaming and crying.”

Parmanand, who was one of the first few on the scene, described the commotion as one right out of a Bollywood film.

He said: “The first thing I noticed was the metal door of the laundry lying nearly 10 feet away from the façade, with poor Rajkumar writhing in blood and pain on the footpath.”

Part of the ceiling and the fittings have collapsed with the impact of the blast

Helpers rushed to his aid, while screams were heard from the five, who were still inside the laundry when the blast occured.

The debris from the blast also hurt a woman, who was passing by, with eyewitnesses reporting “serious bleeding from the head and her clothes badly burned.”

The first team of paramedics arrived within 15 minutes of the blast, with the injured shuttled into a neighbouring building’s air-conditioned foyer to hold the burn victims in a cooler area for temporary relief until the ambulances arrived.

RM, a volunteer on the scene, said: “Skin was hanging off the bodies, clothes were burned and stuck in places; there was blood everywhere. It was horrifying.”

Vivek, the nephew of the laundry owner, said: “Rajkumar was very unfortunate; he had gone out on his bicycle to deliver clothes, but had forgotten something, hence he returned to the area just as the blast occurred. He is not doing good at all.”

Cause of explosion

Theories are abounding amongst those in the neighbourhood, whether the cause of blast was a cylinder, an a/c compressor or the boiler/steamer used by the laundry itself for cleaning the garments.

Vivek continued: “It couldn’t have been a cylinder. The a/c compressor is lying here on the sidewalk. I simply don’t know how it could have happened.”

Neighbours are grateful that the impact of the blast did not take out the 20kg gas cylinders that are positioned on either side of the laundry, that belong to the two restaurants, Kulcha King and Zaika Karachi.

Currently, both restaurants remained closed, with electricity and water supply having been shut down for the period.

An official statement from Dubai Police is awaited.
 

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