Puri Hotel Gas Blast, Grand Road, Odisha: A Suspected Cylinder Explosion in a Closed Ground-Floor Restaurant During New Gas Connection Work Near the Jagannath Temple Hurts Four Including a Firefighter, While Reports Differ on the Count and the Cause

What happened

The Puri hotel gas blast happened at about 3.30 pm on Friday 13 November 2026 on the ground floor of a hotel on Grand Road, also called Bada Danda, near the Jagannath temple in Puri, Odisha. A suspected gas cylinder explosion tore through the hotel’s restaurant, which had been shut for two months, while a new gas connection was being fitted. ThePrint (quoting PTI), The Times of India, ANI, Sambad English and The News Mill report no deaths. Four outlets count four hurt, three in the blast and a firefighter in the rescue; PTI and The Times of India say three, so the figures differ by outlet.

Puri’s Superintendent of Police, quoted by The News Mill, said everyone inside was rescued, a person trapped in a lift among them, and that gas cylinders were carried out of the building to prevent a second blast. The fire officer’s early view is that a gas cloud or a flash fire during the connection work set it off, and the kitchen’s automatic sprinklers put out the small fire that followed. The police have examined the hotel’s CCTV footage, and no cause has been established.

This page names no one, and does not name the hotel. It sets out what is reported, where the reports differ and what a new gas connection in a long-closed kitchen teaches.

What the reports say

• When: At about 3.30 pm on Friday 13 November 2026 (ThePrint, quoting PTI); the other reports say afternoon
• Where: The ground floor of a hotel on Grand Road (Bada Danda), near the Jagannath temple, Puri, Odisha (ThePrint; The News Mill; Pragativadi)
• The premises: A hotel with a restaurant on the ground floor and rooms on the upper floors. The restaurant had been closed for about two months because of a drainage problem and was due to reopen in three days; a puja was held that morning (The Times of India; Sambad English)
• What happened: A suspected gas cylinder explosion while an employee of a gas agency was fitting a new connection (The Times of India; Sambad English). The blast broke the glass front, brought down the false ceiling and threw glass and plywood onto the road, some of it about 100 feet (The News Mill; Ommcom News; OdishaBytes)
• Deaths: None reported in any report we read
• Injured: Four outlets give four hurt, three in the blast and a firefighter hurt in the rescue (Sambad English; Ommcom News; OdishaBytes; Pragativadi). PTI and The Times of India give three; the Superintendent of Police counts three including the firefighter (The News Mill, with inputs from ANI)
• Condition: PTI says two of the injured were in critical condition; The Times of India says all three it counts were referred from the district headquarters hospital to private hospitals in Bhubaneswar
• Response: The fire service and the police rescued everyone inside, including a person trapped in a lift; the area was cordoned off and the gas cylinders in the building were brought outside (The News Mill; Sambad English)
• Fire safety: The fire officer said fire safety arrangements were in place in the kitchen and that the automatic sprinklers discharged water and put out the small fire (The News Mill, quoting ANI)
• Suspected cause: Not established. The fire officer’s preliminary view is a gas cloud or a flash fire during the connection work; the police have examined the hotel’s CCTV footage and say they will look at all angles (The Times of India; ThePrint; The News Mill)
• Identities: Reports name the injured, the officials and the hotel; we name no one and do not print the hotel’s name

Where reports differ and what we do not know

• The number hurt: Sambad English, Ommcom News, OdishaBytes and Pragativadi say four, counting a firefighter hurt in the rescue. ThePrint (PTI) and The Times of India say three, and the Superintendent of Police, as quoted by The News Mill, says three including the firefighter. An eyewitness quoted by The News Mill says at least five. We say four hurt, three in the blast and a firefighter, and show the other counts.
• Who was hurt: PTI says two cooks and a tourist; Sambad English says an employee of the gas agency and two hotel staff; Ommcom News says three hotel employees; The Times of India lists three people including a security guard. We say three people were hurt in the blast and do not describe them further.
• How serious: PTI says two were critical. Pragativadi says in its headline that four were critically injured. The Times of India says three were referred to private hospitals in Bhubaneswar. Other reports give no condition.
• The day: The Times of India says Thursday in its report of 14 November. PTI, The News Mill, Ommcom News, Sambad English, Pragativadi and OdishaBytes all say Friday 13 November, and so do we.
• What was under way: PTI says cooking was under way. The Times of India and Sambad English say the restaurant was shut and a gas connection was being fitted, and The Times of India adds that no customers were present. A video description from News18 Odia says diners ran out. We follow the police and fire officer accounts and say no customers were hurt.
• The place on the road: ThePrint and The News Mill say Grand Road, Pragativadi says Bada Danda, and a News18 Odia video says Puri Market Chhak. All describe the road in front of the Jagannath temple.
• The cause: Ommcom News and OdishaBytes say a suspected LPG cylinder explosion. The fire officer says it may have been a gas cloud or a flash fire during the connection work. Neither is a finding, and the police have not given a cause.

What this blast teaches

A kitchen that has been shut for weeks and is about to reopen is a high-risk moment for gas. A new connection means new joints, and a small leak in a closed room can build up before anyone smells it. Gas that has collected can flash when any spark appears, which is what the fire officer’s early view describes. The police have not given a cause, so none of this is a finding about this hotel. It is a reason to treat every new or reconnected gas line as a job for a trained mechanic, with the doors open, the flames out and only the people needed in the room.

We have covered similar blasts, among them the Mumbai Pratiksha Nagar cylinder blast and fire that hurt a firefighter, the Khallikote house explosion in Odisha where a gas leak is suspected, the Georai cylinder blast in Beed on Diwali evening and the RR Nagar chaat storage room cylinder blast in Bengaluru. Our guide to LPG cylinder safety in India brings the leaks, kitchen habits and cases into one place. If you smell gas, our guide to what to do right now in an LPG gas leak gives the steps and the helpline. For work inside a hotel that is still in use, our guide to renovation work in an occupied hotel sets out the fire rules. For anyone staying in a hotel, our guide to what to do in a fire in a hotel, hostel, PG or guest house covers the first smell of smoke to the stairs.

We do not know what leaked, how the gas reached a flame or spark, or whether the connection was made by a trained mechanic. The investigation will say. We will update this page when a cause or a corrected count is published.