Chemical factory blast in India kills eight
12 January 2020
Eight people were killed and six injured after an explosion at a factory in the Tarapur chemical zone in the state of Maharashtra, around 120km (74 miles) north of Mumbai. The blast on January 11 happened at the Ank Pharma plant during the testing of a new reactor.
Representative image: Shutterstock
The explosion and subsequent fire caused parts of the building to collapse. 11 workers were inside the plant at the time of the blast, including a 13-year old girl who was later named as one of the dead.
A team from the Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health (DISH) has been sent to the scene to investigate the cause of the explosion. Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray announced that the families of the deceased would receive Rs 5 lakh (around $7,000) in financial assistance.
The Deputy Director of DISH said that Ank Pharma did not have permission to be operating at the time of the blast, before suggesting that hydrogen cylinders used for the new reactor may have been a cause of the blast.