2 dead in blast at iron furnace unit in Patiala

Two migrant labourers were killed in a blast in an iron furnace unit in the industrial area in Pataiala.

PATIALA: Two migrant labourers were killed and five other men were injured in a blast in an iron furnace unit in the industrial area here on Friday evening.

The deceased were Sonu Kumar, 27, of Hajipur in Bihar, and Raju Yadav, 30, of Ballia, Uttar Pradesh. The five who got injured are Ramakant Yadav, Ranjit Singh, Durga Parsad, Shivbaji Rao and Manoj Kumar, all migrants from Bihar and UP; four of them were sent to a Ludhiana hospital with serious injuries. They resided in Mandi Gobindgarh, 40km from here, and worked here in Ess Ess Steel Mill on Bhandson Road.

The blast took place when iron scrap was being put into the furnace. “As labourers heard the blast, they rushed to the site. A rescue operation was launched immediately, but Sonu died on the spot, while the others were rushed to a local hospital, where Raju succumbed to injuries,” said another labourer who identified himself only as Brajesh.

The unit used to remodel iron by melting scrap; a sudden boil in the furnace threw melted iron onto the workers, said assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Gurmeet Singh, who insisted, “Prima facie it has been found that it was not a case of negligence, but an industrial accident.”

However, he said the police will probe the matter and register a case “as per rules”. He said the state industries department has been informed.

On June 26, a man died and two were injured in a similar incident in the area. Five days before that, three men were killed and two injured when a hydraulic machine exploded in a unit manufacturing electrical implements at Fatehgarh Chhanna village, 6 km from here.