Engineer killed, 8 hurt in Kanpur Ordnance Factory explosion

The explosion was deafening and the victims, who suffered burns injuries, were thrown several metres away due impact of the blast.

An engineer was killed and eight others were injured in an explosion in the ‘gun shop’ of the Ordnance Factory on Kanpur on Tuesday.

The tragedy happened when a nitrogen cylinder, attached to the barrel of a light field gun (LFG), exploded when engineers were conducting static pressure test on the LFG barrel. (HT PHOTO)

The tragedy happened when a nitrogen cylinder, attached to the barrel of a light field gun (LFG), exploded when engineers were conducting static pressure test on the LFG barrel.

Ordnance factory general manager MK Garg said “Nothing like this has ever happened before. The defence ministry has been informed.”

“This is a serious incident. We are gathering all details to find out what exactly went wrong,” Garg said while ruling out sabotage.

UP’s additional chief secretary Awanish Awasthi said Kanpur district magistrate Vijay Vishwas Pant informed him that a nitrogen cylinder had exploded.

Some factory employees said the explosion was deafening and the victims, who suffered burns injuries, were thrown several metres away due impact of the blast.

The deceased, AS Rajput, was an assistant engineer. Three other engineers, Pratap Singh, Pankaj Srivastava and Sandeep Kelkar, examiners Dwarika and MP Mahto, two casual labourers Ram Chandra Gupta and Karuna Shankar and another person were injured. They were taken to a hospital.