CHENNAI:A student of the Indian Institute of Technology - Madras was severely injured as a beaker containing Nitric Acid exploded in the micro electronics lab on Thursday afternoon.
Though the student was wearing safety apparel, the intensity of the explosion was so heavy that the broken glass pieces penetrated the apron requiring her to be operated immediately.
Shelly Agarwal, a post graduate Electrical Engineering student from Odisha was cleaning silicon wafers using concentrated Nitric Acid at the Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) lab as a part of her micro pumps fabrication project.
During this cleaning procedure, she met with the accident and lab assistants, other students working in neighbouring rooms in the same lab rushed to her rescue within seconds. “We entered the room hearing a loud noise and realised that it was an explosion. But, we were surprised that she was standing without shouting, calling out for help,” Noyal, another student, who first rushed to the accident spot, told Express. The assistants and students cleared the place with 50 to 60 litres of water and rushed Shelly to the Institute hospital where first aid was given without any delay, he added. From there, she was taken to a leading private hospital and operated upon to remove the broken glass pieces which had pierced into her body at multiple spots between neck and hip besides causing cuts in the abdomen. According to Shelly’s friends, the shutter of the fume pot used to store the chemicals was half closed, resulting in the damage to her. Her parents were informed about the accident by the IIT management and they reached Chennai on Friday. Her friends who were with the parents at the hospital last night said doctors informed that Shelly was stable and recovering now.