Soaring temperature blamed for fire at MP ordnance factory

A STOCKPILE OF 20YEAR OLD DISCARDED AMMUNITION OF 106 MM GUNS POSSIBLY DETONATED DUE TO THE EXCESSIVE HEAT

Soaring mercury level has been blamed, prima facie, for a series of explosions that sparked a fire at the Ordnance Factory Khamaria (OFK) in Jabalpur on Saturday evening.

Senior officials of the factory claimed the scorching heat might have caused dumped, old ammunition to detonate.

OFK general manager AK Agarwal told HT that a stockpile of over 20-year-old discarded ammunition of 106 mm recoilless guns (RCLs) possibly detonated due to the excessive heat as the mercury touched 40°C on the day in Jabalpur, some 320km east of Bhopal.

“But the exact reason will be known only after experts investigate the incident thoroughly,” he added.

He said an inquiry has been ordered and experts would be coming from Pune on Monday to probe the incident.

There were at least 20 to 25 explosions at building 845, where the cache of ammunition, which could no longer be used, was kept. Agarwal said the building was gutted in the raging fire sparked by the explosions.

There was no injury to anyone in the incident as the workers had left the factory around 5.30pm, around an hour before the first explosion at 6.24pm.

Indian Ordnance Factories, which functions under the defence ministry, is a conglomerate of 41 factories, 9 training institutes, 3 regional marketing centres and 4 regional controllers of safety. OFK is one of the 41 ordnance factories.