Four workers wounded in Taloja company fire succumb to injuries

TALOJA: Four of the eight workers injured in a fire at Taloja MIDC on March 19 have succumbed to their injuries.

The fire at an asphalt and bitumen manufacturing company broke out around 10pm at the unit located at Padghe village.

There were around 20 workers in the unit at the time of the incident. The injured were in the main plant and sustained serious burn injuries.

The fire brigade personnel managed to rescue most of the workers who were trapped.

They were initially rushed to MGM hospital in Kamothe. However, after their condition deteriorated, they were shifted to National Burns Centre in Airoli.

The workers were battling for their lives.

On March 22, Akhilesh Gupta, Sanjeev Singh and Tuntun Singh dies of their injuries. Sanjay Singh passed away on March 23 night.

Four are still undergoing treatment.

Taloja MIDC f i re of f i cer Pramod Gotpagar said, “While investigations are on, prima facie it seems that there was a cylinder blast in the boiler room as we have found a cylin- der there.”

He added, “The fire started in the main plant where the tarmac was being processed. We managed to rescue the eight men working in it.”

While one bitumen manufacturing plant was saved, the other was reportedly destroyed.

The company management has been booked for negligence by the police. No arrest has been made as yet.