For 16 hours, fire rages at Thane razor packaging unit

A twin-blade razor packaging unit of Vidhyut Metallics Pvt Ltd in Wagle Estate was gutted in fire that broke out around 2 am on Monday.

A twin-blade razor packaging unit of Vidhyut Metallics Pvt Ltd in Wagle Estate was gutted in fire that broke out around 2 am on Monday.

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The fire raged on for nearly 16 hours but no casualties were reported. Fire officials said that preliminary reports suggested it was caused due to a short circuit.

“The cause is yet to be ascertained. The fire broke out in the ground floor of the factory. There were plastics, corrugated boxes due to which the fire spread to the first floor. There was a diesel tank, which we were able to save from the fire.”

“Twelve fire tenders from Thane, two each from Navi Mumbai and Bhiwandi and one from Mira-Bhayander were pressed into service. There were no workers at the unit barring security officials. Residents of nearby chawls were evacuated,” said deputy fire officer (Thane) Arvind Mandke.

“A report of accidental fire has been registered at the Wagle Estate police station. We will carry out a separate detailed investigation into this,” said Dr Vinaykumar Rathod, assistant commissioner of police (Wagle division of Zone V).

Roshan Nazereth, general manager (human resources) of the company, said, “Our audit team is calculating the loss.”

The firm employs nearly 850 workers, mostly women, at the packaging unit. Some workers and fire officials raised doubts on why it took so long to douse the blaze.