By Sandhya Nair
The Times of India
MUMBAI — Five employees of a drug manufacturing company in Tarapur MIDC were crushed to death on Friday when a reactor explosion caused the collapse of the three-storey structure housing the plant. At least three employees were feared trapped under the debris.
Eighteen persons, including a fireman and a police constable, sustained injuries during rescue efforts. The condition of two was said to be serious.
A case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder was registered against the owners and staff. No arrests were made.
The rise in temperature inside the chemical tank that exploded had gone unnoticed, said Thane rural SP Sangramsinh Nishandar.
“It was a case of negligence as the administrative office where the victims were seated was too close to the 2,000 kg chemical tank which exploded,” Nishandar said.
The explosion occurred around 11 am in one of the reactors of Aarti Drugs Limited, a bulk drug manufacturer and exporter on plot number N-198 in the MIDC chemical zone. “While the fire was brought under control, engineers and workers at the plant were buried under the debris,” said Siddharth Labane, deputy director, Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health, Vasai.
The dead were identified as Pooja Wade (23), a chemical engineer, Pranit Patil (23), an instrumentation engineer, Sachin Poojary (25), a works manager, Surendra Sardar (28), an electrical engineer and Pramod Mishra (30), a production assistant.
Fourteen employees were undergoing treatment at the Sanjeevani hospital in Boisar, while two whose condition was serious were shifted to KEM in Parel. Fireman Sanjay Pawar of the MIDC fire brigade and a constable of the Boisar MIDC polie station were also being treated in Sanjeevani.
The condition of two employees, Pankaj Patil and Roopram Batharam, was said to be serious. “They have been shifted to the KEM hospital in Parel,” said police inspector Uttam Sonawane, police inspector of the Boisar MIDC police station.
Eye witnesses said that Wade who had joined the company last week was stuck in the debris for over two hours. She was screaming for help till her voice went silent. Her body was removed from the debris at around 4 pm. Sardar too was caught under the debris for over three hours till his body was removed by evening.
Due to the explosion and the resultant heat inside the plant, rescue workers had to first carry out cooling operation before going in search of those trapped. Police said that flood lights were being used to look for more trapped persons.
The company could not provide the list of the exact number of employees who were working in the plant when the blast occurred.
Employees work in the unit round the clock in three shifts. Police said that those trapped would have been from the morning shift. The police are awaiting the report of the Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health (DISH) before charges are framed against the owners. The company was in the process of acquiring an ISO 9002 compliance for its units, including the one at Tarapur.
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