A family of five suffered burns of various degrees in a gas cylinder explosion at Matunga Labour Camp this evening. Anil Ramchandra Gangurde (35) was working in the kitchen at 4.45 pm in his second floor flat along with his wife Lata (30) when the LPG cylinder he was working on exploded. Even as the fire brigade reached the spot, neighbours of the Gangurde family in the five storeyed building in the Milind Co-op Housing Society brought the fire under control using bucketsful of water.

The injured including three children were shifted to LTMG hospital at Sion where they are reported to be out of danger. Gangurde suffered nearly 70 per cent burns while Lata was burnt on her right limbs. Their children Rahul, Sushil and Poornima who were also injured were shifted to the Wadia hospital for children at Parel.

Atomic clocks for spacecrafts

Atomic clocks with near absolute precision would be put in spacecraft by 2002 AD to avoid any time error due to gravitationalforces, according to french Nobel laureate Prof Calude Cohen-Tannoudji.

Delivering the first Homi Bhabha lecture series on `Manipulating atoms by light' at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) on Monday, Cohen-Tannoudji said the prototype of the clocks (compact and portable) with higher precision had already been built and tested. The finer version of it would be ready within two years, he added.

Threats against Zakhm shows

After the ruckus over the controversial film Fire, now it is the turn of Mahesh Bhatt's Zakhm. Mumbai Youth Association (MYA) in a letter today to proprietors of theatres in the metropolis screening Bhatt's last directorial venture have warned them to stop showing Zakhm within 48 hours or face litigation. The letter claimed that Hindus in the movie, set against the backdrop of Mumbai communal riots were projected as `militants, fanatic and fundamentalist'. Additional commissioner of police Rakesh Maria said that routine security has been provided to the cinemahalls, where the film is being screened. ``It is only as a precautionary measure,'' he said.