Fire in Pune’s Chemical Factory Kills 18
Major fire erupted at a sanitizer manufacturing unit at Pune. The fire killed 18 workers and 17 are still missing.
In Pune's Ghotawade Phata area there is a chemical factory of a company named SVS Aqua Technologies. The factory was manufacturing sanitisers.
On 7th June, at 3.45pm, 37 employees were on duty when a blaze erupted at the chemical factory. Soon after the blaze erupted, the local fire department had rushed at least 8 fire engines and 50 firefighters to the plant. They had to break down walls of the factory to enter inside as the fire had grown too strong. It took several hours for the firefighters to enter the factory. On entering they saw 18 employees had lost their lives to the fire which included 15 women and 3 men. The bodies were charred beyond recognition. The bodies were found in multiple groups. People were holding each other trying to save themselves from the fire but sadly, they could not evade the strong blaze. According to company officials, at least 17 of their workers are still missing. Officials feel the number of deaths will increase. While the fire has been brought under control now, the search and rescue operations for the missing employees are still ongoing. Due to some spark at the plastic packaging section, the fire broke out and as there was plastic around, it spread rapidly. This created a lot of smoke, people could not see clearly, which is why they got trapped and died.
PM Narendra Modi took to Twitter to condole the deaths of the employees. "Pained by the loss of lives due to a fire at a factory in Pune, Maharashtra. Condolences to the bereaved families," he tweeted.
He also announced an ex-gratia of Rs. 2 lakh each for the family of those who lost their lives, while Rs. 50,000 would be given to those injured. Deputy CM Ajit Pawar said the state government Rs 5 lakh to victims' kin.
