AHMEDABAD: At least 24 workers were injured as a fire broke out at a chemical plant in Gujarat’s Surat city after an explosion in a storage tanker. Three of the injured workers were admitted to a hospital in critical condition.
The blaze erupted at the factory located in Sachin GIDC industrial area at around 2 am. “The explosion occurred in a chemical company’s chemical storage tank containing the combustible chemical substance Tetrahydrofuran, and the fire spread throughout the unit,” an official said.
When the fire broke out, there were approximately 100 to 150 labourers on the night shift and the 24, who received varying degrees of burn injuries, were immediately sent to private hospital in Sachin GIDC. The critically injured individuals were later transferred to different hospitals.
A factory worker named Shravan said, “We were working on the second floor when we heard a blast, so we ran away. An ambulance and an additional medical team had already arrived by the time we descended.”
The blast caused a fire in the three-storeyed building of the factory and engulfed the entire unit. Leader of the Gujarat Congress Opposition Amit Chavda blamed the government for the fire incident, saying, “We demand that the government conduct a proper investigation and give proper compensation to the injured. In Surat, there have been blasts and leakages in chemical factories for a long time, the government is not taking any proper action.”