8 injured in Chicago apartment building explosion
Chicago (PTI): Eight people were rushed to hospitals after being injured when an explosion Tuesday tore through the top floor of a Chicago apartment building, officials said.
The explosion at the 36-unit, four-story apartment building in the South Austin neighbourhood occurred at about 9 am on Tuesday.
Chicago Fire Department Deputy Chief Marc Ferman told reporters a few hours later that the department had finished searching for potential victims and was confident that nobody remained trapped inside the building, of which much of the top floor had collapsed.
He said, “Technical crews had shored up the upper floors to allow firefighters to search to make sure we didn't leave any victims underneath any of the debris.”
The cause of the blast had not yet been determined.
Seven of the injured were in the building on the city's West Side, when the explosion occurred, and one apparently was in a building across the street, Ferman said. Three of the people who were hurt had serious to critical injuries, the department said.
Photographs and video posted on the Chicago Fire Department's Twitter page showed that much of the top floor was destroyed. Scores of bricks and other debris had fallen onto the street, crushing at least one car and seriously damaging two others.
Several residents said they were home when the explosion rocked the building.
“I was asleep, and all of a sudden there was a loud booming,” said Lawrence Lewis, who was asleep at the time, told WGN television. “I woke up to my windows gone, my front door blown open. I just saw smoke, and I ran out of the house. I was asleep. I'm shook up right now.”
Otis Maning, who lives across the street, told the Chicago Sun-Times that he was on his couch watching television, “When all of a sudden I hear, 'Boom! My heart almost shot out of my body...I saw windows busted open, I saw debris," he added.
Chicago police bomb squad and agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also responded to the explosion.
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Power tariffs under BESCOM to rise from May 1
Bengaluru (PTI): Power bills for consumers under the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) will go up from May 1, following an order issued by the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) on Friday.
The hike comes after KERC allowed the BESCOM to recover a revenue deficit of Rs 2,068 crore incurred in 2024-25, from the consumers.
As a result, for every unit of electricity consumed in 2024-25, the customers will be charged an additional 56 paise, it said.
"BESCOM shall calculate, for each of the active consumers of FY2024-25 the amount to be recovered based on their actual energy consumption during FY2024-25. Such amount shall be recovered during FY 2026-27 in equal monthly instalments, to be called as 'FY25 True up Charges', commencing from the first meter reading date falling on or after 1 May 2026 and concluding with the reading date ending on 30 April 2027," the order said.
"It is further ordered that BESCOM shall maintain a separate head of account, allocated for the purpose, to record the adjustment of the said amount to ensure full recovery of the deficit," it added.
Similarly Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation Limited (CESC) has also recorded a revenue deficit of Rs 121.71 crore and can collect an additional 15 paisa per unit for consumption in 2024-25, official sources said.
