Raigad, Sep 12 (IANS): At least three workers, all from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, were killed while another three injured when a massive blast followed by a fire ripped through a chemical factory located in Roha town on Thursday, the police said.
The blast and the blaze occurred at around 11.15 a.m. in the Sadhana Nitrochem Ltd. company, which specialises in making ODB-2 chemicals used to produce heat-resistant papers, said an official of Roha Police Station.
At that time, there were at least 10 workers present on the premises, of which six were engaged in welding works on a huge methanol storage tank, at the MIDC complex on Plot No. 47 in Dhatav village.
Suddenly, there was a deafening blast in the tank that was heard for several hundreds of metres in the vicinity, damaging the factory premises, walls and other things.
On hearing the explosion, many people panicked, rushed out of their homes, while some anxious relatives of the victims gathered outside the factory premises.
According to the locals, the workers on duty there were also flung several metres around due to the impact of the huge explosion, even as the locals summoned the Roha Police and Fire Brigade for help.
A massive rescue and relief operation was carried out, and the teams recovered the bodies of the three workers who perished in the tragedy, and three others who were critically injured in the mishap, from the debris.
The deceased are identified as -- Dineshkumar Kharbat Ram (25) of Babhnauli (UP); Sanjit Kumar (20) of Prayagraj (UP), and Buski Yadav of Tarapur in Bihar.
The injured individuals include Satyendrakumar Vijay Sahu (19) of Jehanabad, a welder who suffered 10 per cent burns and is in treatment at a hospital; Nilesh Kashinath Bhagat (38) a resident of Roha town with 20 per cent burns and fractured limbs, and Anil Hardish Mishra (44) of Madhubani in Bihar, who suffered 60 per cent burns.
Bhagat and Mishra have been rushed to the Airoli Burns Centre in Navi Mumbai's Kharghar for specialised treatment, said the official.
The bodies of the deceased have been sent for an autopsy at the sub-district hospital and the exact causes of the disaster are being investigated, the official added.