Maharashtra: 2 labourers succumb to injuries in Raigad blaze

Raigad Superintendent of Police, Anil Paraskar, said the incident had occurred when a fire extinguisher was being tested at the factory. “The testing unit stocks raw material to spark fire for testing and dousing material. We suspect the fire went out of control during one of the testing sessions, but we are waiting for the factory inspector’s report.

An accidental death report has been registered in the matter,” Paraskar said. He added that an FIR will be registered after the factory inspector submits his investigation. Earlier, a factory official had said that they suspected a “gas leak” had caused the fire to spread in the unit.

In their statement to police, the injured labourers have reportedly said they were testing a fire extinguisher to douse a blaze in the testing facility when an extinguisher blast sent heat wave across the unit and spread the fire outside the unit.

On Friday, the injured labourers were first rushed to Mangaon rural hospital, and a few of them were later shifted to National Burns Centre, Airoli. Two labourers, Ashish Yerunkar and Rakesh Halde, were declared dead at the burns centre Friday night on arrival, Dr Sunil Keswani, director of the institute, said.

“They died en route to the hospital. Both had suffered inhalation injuries and had facial burns, apart from third-degree burns,” he said. Four other labourers, also shifted to the institute, were admitted to the intensive care unit. One of the labourers, Kailas Padve, is stated to be serious with 54 per cent burns, while another, Chetan Karkare, sustained 40 per cent burns. “Anything beyond 30 per cent burns is serious. We are trying to avoid risk of infection to the patients admitted in the ICU,” Keswani said. The other injured labourers are in stable condition.