Blast in chemical factory leaves four injured

Four employees of a camphor factory in Parsa Kheda industrial locality of Bareilly received severe burn injuries when a massive fire broke out there late Thursday

Four employees of a camphor factory in Parsa Kheda industrial locality of Bareilly received severe burn injuries when a massive fire broke out there late Thursday night, said police. One worker was still missing, they said, adding that no causalities had been reported so far.

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The injured, including a chemist, had been rescued and were undergoing treatment at the district hospital.

While the cause of the fire is yet to be established, according to Ram Autar, a worker of the factory, there was a huge blast in the catalytic section of the Oriental Aromatic Limited. He said the blast occurred in the factory’s chemical section, which was closed.

“It must have been a short-circuit,” said Autar, adding there was no one in the area at that time else there would have been casualties. “The factory has a workforce of 70 employees,” he said.

Manish Srivastava, who lives in the neighbourhood, said, “The explosion was so intense that it shattered the window panes of the houses in the locality and people came out on the street. They saw a huge fireball emerging from the factory.”

It took five fire tenders more than an hour to douse the flames while police from adjoining stations controlled the crowd and managed traffic movement.

“We do not know whether it was a short circuit that started the fire and was followed by an explosion or vice versa. Maybe some chemical reaction triggered the blast. We are investigating the matter with the help of fire officials,” said Seema Yadav, inspector, who reached the spot and managed relief and rescue operations.

“From the odour emerging from the factory, it appears that it is paramenthane hydroperoxide -- an organic peroxide used on industrial scale for polymerization,” said a fire official.