3 workers killed in Barnala unit blast
Incident took place when a machine was being repaired; blast was so powerful that factory roof collapsed
Three persons were killed and two were injured on Wednesday when a hydraulic machine exploded in a unit manufacturing electrical implements at Fatehgarh Chhanna village, 6 km from the district headquarters.
The incident took place when the machine was being repaired in the factory, SR Engineering India. The blast was so powerful that the factory roof collapsed.
Sriman Yadav (35) of Bihar and Mandeep Singh (30) of Ludhiana died on the spot while Jatinder Kumar alias Ram Ashish (40) died on his way to the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH), Ludhiana.
While Sriman and Ashish were workers in the factory, Mandeep was a helper with the repair team from Ludhiana. Factory owner’s partner Maanak Garg and dye maker Vishal Arora of the repair team got injured. Both are presently under treatment at DMCH.
SHO Gaurav Vansh said, “Preliminary investigation does not suggest any negligence on the part of factory owners or staff.”
Senior superintendent of police Baljot Singh Rathore, who visited the site, said, “We are investigating the reasons behind the incident. We have directed the industry inspector to submit a report on this.”
On June 13, a blast in a cracker factory in Sunam left 28 persons injured. The blast destroyed the factory apart from blowing away roofs of three adjacent houses.
On March 31 this year, four people died and 36 were injured in a blast at a potato cold store in Sangrur’s Dhuri city. The store was damaged while the roof was blown off in the blast. The blast occurred at the Guru Nanak Cold store located near a flyover.
In August last year, an explosion inside a paper mill in Malerkotla killed three workers and injured 19.