AS MANY as eight persons were killed and more than 60 others injured following an explosion at a chemical factory in Maharashtra’s Thane district on Thursday afternoon, officials said. As a boiler exploded at Amudan Chemicals located in Phase 2 of Dombivli MIDC area around 1.40 pm, the impact of the explosion and the resultant blaze affected adjacent factories and houses, they said. The affected chemical factory produced food colours and uses peroxides that are highly reactive and unstable chemicals that can cause violent explosions under certain conditions, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) said. The blast was so loud that it was heard a kilometre away, an eyewitness said. Glass windows of adjoining buildings cracked while many houses in the vicinity were damaged, officials said.

 

Thick clouds of smoke could be seen hovering over the factory. Six men and two women were killed in the incident but their bodies were charred beyond recognition, said Yasin Tadvi, chief of the disaster management cell of the Thane Municipal Corporation. As per the preliminary information, those killed were working in neighbouring factories, Maharashtra Industries Minister Uday Samant said. The state Industries and Labour Department issued a statement saying the boiler in the factory was not registered under the India Boiler Regulations, 1950. Terming the incident as horrible, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said some more people are feared trapped in the factories around the chemical factory. “Our priority is to rescue those people. Eight persons have lost their lives and more than sixty were injured,” he said from the factory site. The Government has taken a serious note of the incident and has decided to categorise the industries as A, B and C in terms of the hazards they pose. “All most hazardous industrial units falling under the red category will be immediately shut across the state.”