Tragedy struck a chemical factory in Bijnor, when a massive explosion in a boiler resulted the death of half a dozen labourers and serious injuries to several others early Wednesday morning.
The injured were shifted to the district hospital in Bijnor, where the condition of two of them was stated to be critical.
A labourer was also reported to be missing after the blast.
Expressing grief over the loss of lives in the accident, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath conveyed his condolences to the families of the deceased. He also directed officials to ensure proper treatment of the injured.
Relief Commissioner Sanjay Kumar said in Lucknow that the injured labourers were out of danger. “There was a blast in Mohit Petro-Chemical Factory located on Nagina road in Kotwali police station area on Wednesday morning. In the blast, labourers Balgovind, Ravi, Lokendra, Kamalveer, Vikrant and Chetram died. Two labourers, Satyapal and Gajendra, were critically injured, while Parvez and Kapil sustained minor injuries. Another labourer, Abhayram is missing after the blast,” said Bijnor district police chief Umesh Kumar Singh after an inspection of the spot.
“As per information gathered so far, the boiler was not functioning for the past few days. On Wednesday, while it was being repaired, there was a blast while welding was going on. The blast caused a fire in the factory and fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the flames,” the Superintendent of Police said.
He said that a case was registered in this regard and efforts were being made to trace the factory owner, who went ‘missing’ after the incident.
Meanwhile in Ballia, two labourers working at an under-construction building died after coming in contact with high tension wire.
As per reports, Munna Gaur (40) and Ramji Dhannu (22) were working at the construction site on Wednesday morning. They were putting an iron beam in place when it accidentally touched an overhead high tension wire. The duo were electrocuted and fell into a pit and died on the spot.
A case was registered by the police and their bodies were sent for autopsy.
