Three killed, five injured in boiler blast at RCF in Chembur

MUMBAI: Three people died and five others were injured in a boiler explosion inside the Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers (RCF) company at Chembur on Saturday

MUMBAI: Three people died and five others were injured in a boiler explosion inside the Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers (RCF) company at Chembur on Saturday evening.

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The incident, police said, took place when the boilers were undergoing maintenance work around 4.30pm.

According to people present at the site, there was a deafening noise after one of the boliers exploded, leaving several people injured.

While the dead were identified as Dilip Pawar, Govind Kumar and Mehmood Noor Mohammad, the injured — Sayyad Sadiq, Jayshankar Sharma, Rahul Shinde, Shashikant Dalvi and Ravindra Kamble — were taken to the RCF hospital, which is located on the premises of the company.

Apart from Shinde, all others are contract labourers, police said.

“As per the preliminary information received from the local police station, maintenance work was underway when the incident took place,” said Ashok Dudhe, deputy commissioner and Mumbai police spokesperson.

The initial probe revealed that the explosion took place in the boiler number 2, but the reasons were not known till the time of going to press.

Officials said the boilers generated steam and would undergo maintenance once every year, following which an inspector would conduct checks and submit a fitness report.

The boiler was reportedly kept shut for the past 20 days owing to a suspected fault in its functioning.

The police have registered a case of accidental death and will record statements of the injured employees to ascertain the cause of incident.