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Six dead, 48 injured as blast rips through chemical factory in Thane district

THANE: At least six persons were killed and 48 injured following an explosion at a chemical factory in Maharashtr­a’s Thane district on Thursday afternoon, officials said.

As a boiler exploded at Amudan Chemicals located in Phase 2 of Dombivli MIDC area around 1.40 pm, its impact and the resultant blaze affected adjacent factories.

As per the preliminar­y informatio­n, those killed were working in neighbouri­ng factories, said Maharashtr­a industries minister Uday Samant. “Unfortunat­ely, six lives were lost in the Dombivli incident, and 48 got injured. My deepest condolence­s to the families who lost their loved ones,” said deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on X. “Injured are being treated at AIMS, Neptune and Global hospitals, and every kind of assistance is being provided. Praying for their speedy recovery. Various teams and administra­tive officials are on the spot for rescue operations,” he added.

Besides fire brigade, police and local officials, the NDRF too was taking part in the rescue operation, officials said.

Minister Samant told PTI that the plant where the explosion took place was not in operation for the last few months and had restarted only a few days ago. Samant, local MP Shrikant Shinde and MLA Raju Patil visited the site inside the Maharashtr­a Industrial Developmen­t Corporatio­n (MIDC) area, some 40 km from Mumbai.

The blast was so loud that it was heard a kilometre away, an eyewitness said. Glass windows of adjoining buildings cracked while many houses in the vicinity were damaged, officials said.

Thick clouds of smoke could be seen hovering over the factory. Speaking to reporters at Chhatrapat­i Sambhajina­gar, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said a massive rescue and relief operation was underway at the site and he had directed the district collector to conduct a detailed inquiry into the incident.

Plans were afoot to shift hazardous chemical factories from Dombivli to Ambernath MIDC in the district, the CM said in reply to a question.