The toll in Thursday’s chemical unit explosion at Domibivli mounted to 11 on Friday, with three more persons succumbing to injuries and fire brigade personnel recovering the bodies of three members of company owner Vishwas Vakatkar’s family from under the debris of the exploded structure.
Identifying the three members of Wakatkar’s family killed in the mishap as the company directors and his sons Nandan (32), Sumit (30) and daughter-in-law Snehal Sunit Vakatkar (28), the police said that one of the employees Sushant Kamble (26) was missing. Two of the 11 persons killed in the mishap have not been identified as yet.
As many as 47 out of the total 201 persons injured in the mishap are undergoing treatment at various hospitals. “Of the 201 injured, 159 have been discharged while 47 are undergoing treatment in 18 hospitals,” Thane District Collector Mahendra Kalyankar said.
In a related development, the fire brigade and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were engaged in the debris clearance operation all through Friday.
The Dombivli police have, meanwhile, registered an offence against the owner of Messrs. Probace Enterprises Vishwas Vakatkar and others under sections 304(2)(culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the IPC.
A boiler had exploded at the chemical unit at around 11.3o am on Thursday.
So massive was the impact of the explosion that took place at the plant of Messrs. Probace Enterprises, located in the Phase II of Dombivli’s MIDC industrial area that glass panes in of flats and shops in nearby buildings and industrial units were shattered.
Several cars and two-wheelers parked in the vicinity were also damaged. At least a dozen pedestrians were injured when flying pieces of window panes emanating from the nearby buildings hit them.