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2 killed, 17 injured in Nashik factory fire
Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde visited the injured in the hospital and announced ex-gratia of ₹5 lakh each to the kin of the deceased workers
Pune: At least two people died while 17 others grievously injured in a massive fire triggered by a blast in a boiler of a chemical factory in Maharashtra’s Nashik district on Sunday, police said, adding that a few workers are still trapped inside the manufacturing unit’s premises.
Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde visited the injured in the hospital and announced ex-gratia of ₹5 lakh each to the kin of the deceased workers.
According to the police, the incident occurred in the Jindal Poly Films factory, located at Mundhegaon industrial area in Igatpuri taluka — around 130km from Mumbai — at 11.30 am after a blast in the boiler. Fire brigade, police, and disaster response force teams rushed to the spot to launch a rescue operation.
The explosion was so loud that it was heard in 20-25 nearby villages, said a senior police officer, adding that a helicopter of Indian Air Force unit in Nashik district was activated to rescue those trapped and assist the fire brigade in their rescue operation.
“A blast led to the fire in which two women have died. Another 17 people are injured and admitted to hospitals. Condition of four of them is stated to be serious,” said divisional revenue commissioner Radhakrishna Game.
“Normally, 20 to 25 people work in the plant. But, as it was the first day of the New Year, the number was less on Sunday,” said Game. “As inflammable materials are lying everywhere, our first aim is to control the fire. The exact reason behind the blaze is yet to be ascertained. It will take some time.”
The deceased workers were identified as Mahima (20) and Anjali (27), a senior police officer said.
Nasik Range Inspector General B J Shekhar Patil said, “Efforts are on war-footing to douse the flames, but since it is a chemical factory, things are a bit challenging before the firefighters on the ground. There was initial vapourisation, which led to the fire and the incident took place around 11.30 am.”
Meanwhile, chief minister Shinde instructed an enquiry to find out the exact reason for the explosion.
“The expense of treating the injured will be borne by the government. Ex-gratia of ₹5 lakh each will be given to families of the deceased. A high-level inquiry of the incident will be conducted,” he said. “This was an automatic plant and hence human resources were less, so fortunately not many trapped when the fire broke out.”
According to Jindal Group website, the manufacturing plant at Nasik district is the one of the largest facilities for the production of BOPET and BOPP films.
Union minister of state for health Dr Bharati Pawar, who also visited the spot, said, “Unfortunately many people have been injured and some have died. The State Disaster Response Force and National Disaster Response Force also arrived to assist the people on ground in fire-fighting operations. All the government officers are present at the spot.”
A factory worker said the whole area was covered in smoke. “Pressure leakage led to sudden fire. All we could see was smoke and so ran to safety,” said a labourer, declining to be named.
Those injured in the incident were identified as Rakesh Singh (26), Ganesh Yadav (40), Hiraman Yadav (49), Pavitra Mohiti (22), Kumar Sanjeev (28), Kailas Kuma Singh (40), Dnyaneshwar Yadav (35), Shraddha Goswami (26), Yashika Katiar (30), Pooja Singh (25), Abu Taleem (29), Manoj Pathak (33), Lakhan Singh (49), Suryakant Raut (41) and Gajendra Pal (30), an officer said, adding that the identity of two others was yet to be ascertained.
