A youth, Jayaram, working at a fabrication shop, was critically injured when an abandoned chemical drum exploded while he was trying to cut it open with a gas-cutter at Autonagar locality on Renigunta Road in Tirupati on Saturday.
According to the police, the leftover chemicals inside the drum caught fire and it exploded. Neighbours rushed a critically injured Jayaram to the SVRR Government Hospital where, his condition was said to be critical.
The police registered a case and took up further investigation. Earlier this month, in a similar incident, an abandoned equipment used in welding shops exploded near railway track on Tirupati-Renigunta section, injuring a cattle grazer.
