Nine people were killed and three others injured in a blast at an explosives manufacturing factory in Maharashtra’s Nagpur district on Sunday. The explosion occurred at 9 am in a cast booster unit of the Solar Industries factory in Bazaargaon, situated about 30 km from the district headquarters.
Following the blast, a crowd of nearly 200 people, comprising locals and relatives of the factory workers, gheraoed the factory’s entrance gate and raised slogans, news agency PTI reported. Expressing anger and grief, they demanded access to the premises to see the bodies. The police later dispersed the crowd.
The angry locals and relatives also blocked the Amravati-Nagpur road outside the factory. According to PTI sources, the bodies of the victims were still inside the premises, where the blast took place at 9 am.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra government has announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh for the kin of those who were killed in the blast the Chief Minister’s office said in a statement.
In a post on X, CMO Maharashtra said, “The Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has expressed deep grief over the deaths in the explosion incident at a factory in Nagpur. Expressing condolences to the deceased and their families, the Chief Minister has also announced an aid of five lakh rupees to their kins of those who died in the incident.” “He has also given instructions to authorities to provide timely and quality treatment to the injured in this unfortunate incident,” the Chief Minister’s office added.
Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in a post on X termed the incident as unfortunate and condoled the death of the nine people.
Stating that there is no delay in the rescue operation, Nagpur District collector Vipin Itankar told The Indian Express that the reason behind the blast has not yet been identified.
“Since the factory was into manufacturing explosives and drones, the administration had to follow several safety protocols to avoid any accidents with rescue teams. We followed it all,” he said.
“We will be studying the CCTV footage, forensic study will be carried out and detailed examination will be undertaken after which exact cause will be identified,” he added.
A number of ambulances were stationed at the entrance gate factory. A senior police official told PTI that there were explosives near the spot. The explosives need to be secured and bomb disposable squads were at the spot, he said.
He further added that the process of securing the explosives was underway and thereafter the bodies will be recovered.
The explosives used in coal mining blast were manufactured at the factory, as per PTI sources.
The work of packaging explosives was on when the blast occurred, they said.
