Bahadurgarh factory blast leaves 4 dead, 30 injured

Tribune News Service

Jhajjar, February 28

Four labourers were killed and 30 others, including women and children, were injured after a powerful explosion in a chemicalfactory at Modern Industrial Estate (MIE) in Bahadurgarh industrial town, here on Friday.

The bursting of a boiler in the factory is believed to the reason behind the incident.

The deceased are yet to be identified while the injured have been admitted to different hospitals in Bahadurgarh city, where the condition of one of them is stated to be critical. The district administration had called a team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) from Delhi.

The rescue operation was under way till the filingof the report, while the possibility of burying of several other labourers cannot be ruled out.

The impact of the blast was so powerful that it even damaged four surrounding shoe-making factories extensively. Major portion of these units collapsed after fire engulfed them. Windowpanes of vehicles parked nearby were broken. Even, residents of nearby localities came out of their houses and found flames coming out from the MIE.

The incident took place in the afternoon when several workers in chemical and surrounding factories were working. “We heard a loud sound of blast and thereafter, our factory collapsed,” said an injured labourer, adding that the incident happened so quickly that they did not get time to run.

Fire tenders from Bahadurgarh, Delhi, Rohtak and Sonepat were pressed into service to douse the flames.

On getting information about the incident, Deputy Commissioner Jitender Dahiya rushed to Bahadurgarh from Jhajjar. “The deceased are labourers and three of them died of burn injuries. The exact cause of the incident is yet to be ascertained while the rescue operation is on. Besides one person, the condition of the remaining 29 injured is stable,” Dahiya told The Tribune.