BOLANGIR: At least seven employees suffered injuries following an explosion in the Ordnance Factory at Badmal in Saintala block of this district in Odisha at around noon on Friday.
Three of the injured are said to be in a critical condition and have been shifted to VIMSAR at Burla in Sambalpur district.
However, there were contradictory reports about the cause of the explosion at the defence establishment. While one source said the accident – in which five workers were injured -- took place when waste explosives were disposed of in the burning ground on the factory premises, another source said the accident took place during tests in the testing ground.
Similarly, there was confusion over the number of workers injured with one source claiming that five danger building workers (DBWs) and two junior works managers (JWMs) were hurt while another said that only five DBWs suffered injuries.
The injured DBWs have been identified as Deb Ranjan Rout, Shiba Thati, Taranisen Bagarti, Baldev Ganda and Humer Majhi besides JWMs Pradip Kuamr Sahu and Souri Narayan Pandey.
Although all seven were rushed to hospital on the factory premises, the JWMs besides Deb Ranjan Rout were later shifted to VIMSAR at Burla where their condition was stated to be serious.
Preliminary reports said the explosion was reported from Unit 15 of the ordnance factory at around noon.
Inspector Artatrana Sahu of the Badmal police station said the police have not yet received the medicolegal MLC report. Efforts to contact the general manager of the Ordnance Factory, Govind Mohan, proved futile.