One killed, 14 injured in blast at explosives unit in Maharashtra's Nagpur

Nagpur: A person was killed and 14 others were injured after a blast occurred at an explosives factory in Maharashtra's Nagpur district shortly after midnight on Thursday, leading to the collapse of the building, police said.

The blast took place at around 12:30 am in a plant of the Solar Group at Bazargaon, located nearly 30 km from the district headquarters, officials said, adding the entire building collapsed due to the explosion.

A person, aged 25, was killed and 14 others suffered injuries, according to police, while a company official said eight persons were injured.

Seven persons were in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a hospital, while the seven others suffered minor injuries, a senior police official told PTI.

A team of the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) will visit the site to ascertain the cause of the blast, the official said.

The company's Senior General Manager, Ashish Kumar Srivastava, told PTI Videos that the blast took place at 12.33 am in the crystallisation building, where energetic materials are crystallised.

The entire building collapsed because of the explosion, the official said.

He said one person died in the blast and eight were injured.

"We sent all of them to hospital for treatment," he said, adding the cause of the explosion will be clear after an investigation.

Before the blast, there were indications (of an explosion) following which people there themselves left the plant, the official said.

The cooling system automatically started after the blast and all the emergency processes of evacuation and building clearances were done properly, he said, adding that safety procedures were activated in the entire factory.

"Our senior officers and directors reached the spot on time and all the teams along with police responded on time," the official said.

The cost of treatment of the injured persons will be borne by the company and a proper compensation will be given to the deceased's kin, the official said.

NCP (SP) leader and former state home minister Anil Deshmukh, who belongs to Nagpur, visited the injured persons in the hospital.

Speaking to PTI videos, Deshmukh said the explosive companies should be very alert about such incidents.

He said the government should ensure the explosive manufacturing factories follow proper safety measures.