BHOPAL: A powerful blast inside the Ordnance Factory Khamaria (OFK) premises in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh killed at least two workers and wounded 15 others on Tuesday.
While one of the workers Alexander Toppo (45) was blown to pieces on the spot, the other worker identified as Randhir Kumar (40), who was put on ventilator support at the Mahakoshal Hospital, died around two hours later.
Out of the 15 other injured, at least three others, identified as Shyamlal Thakur, Chandan Kumar and Krishna Pal are stated critical with serious burn injuries. All of them have been admitted to the Mahakoshal Hospital.
The remaining 12 workers/staff of the OFK, who sustained minor injuries in the blast, were discharged after primary treatment at the OFK’s own hospital.
The blast was so powerful that one of the deceased workers, Alexander Toppo’s body was blown into pieces and the remains were found in the debris after a long search. The dismembered body which was strewn in an area of around 300 meters near the boundary wall, was identified reportedly based on the hair and ears, police sources told TNIE.
According to a senior Jabalpur district police officer, as per the junior work manager V Yadav, the blast happened at Section F-6 of one of the buildings at the OFK at around 10:05 am.
“The blast happened when the workers were dismantling expired bombs of the navy, each of them weighing around 50 kgs. The bombs were being dismantled using steam to melt the metal component of the bomb and using the metal for further use,” a police officer said.
The entire building where the work was underway was turned into rubble due to the blast.
Importantly, this isn’t the first such blast at the OFK, which is one of the major ammunition production units under the Department of Defence Production.
In March 2017, a similar blast and fire happened at the F-3 Section of OFK during which no casualties were reported.
Before it, in October 2015, at least 13 persons were hurt in the detonation of the explosive waste. In 2002 two explosions happened.
While none were hurt in the January 2002 blast which caused damage to a building, three months later in April 2002, two workers died.
Located around 20 km from the Jabalpur district headquarters, the factory is reportedly spread over 259 hectares.
The present production activity of the factory is a combination of hardware component manufacturing, explosive filling and ammunition assembly. The factory has acquired expertise in the manufacture of hardware for Shells, Fuzes, Primer and Cartridge.