Pollution
Dahej blast: 3 dead, 32 injured in chemical factory accident
The number of casualties is expected to rise as many victims have received 70 per cent burn injuries
By Rajat Ghai
Published: Wednesday 03 June 2020
At least three workers have died and more than 32 injured in a blast at a chemical factory in the port of Dahej in south Gujarat’s Bharuch district, according to sources.
The blast took place at the unit of Yashasvi Rasayan Pvt Ltd. The company was registered in 2016. Yashasvi Rasayan Pvt Ltd manufactures agrochemicals and organic intermediates.
“The blast occurred at 12 noon. It was followed by a fire. The fire department rushed to the spot and declared an offsite emergency,” a source told Down To Earth on the phone.
Videos and photographs being circulated on social media showed a thick plume of smoke emanating from the site of the blast.
Two villages in the vicinity have been evacuated following the blast. “The number of casualties is expected to rise as many of the victims of the blast have received 70 per cent burns,” the source added.
Dahej, where the blast took place, is a major cargo port on the Gulf of Khambhat. It is the location of a number of industrial units.
The deputy director of industrial safety and health, Gujarat government and the Gujarat Pollution Control Board are investigating the cause of the blast. The unit of Yashasvi Rasayan Pvt Ltd has been ordered to close by the government.
This is the second industrial accident in India in less than a month. On May 7, 2020, styrene gas leaked from the LG Polymers chemical plant in RR Venkatapuram village near Gopalapatnam on the outskirts of Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.
The resulting vapour cloud spread over a radius of about three kilometres, affecting the nearby areas and villages. Eleven people were killed and more than 1,000 people became sick after being exposed to the gas, according to the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).
Preliminary investigations have blamed the accident on the lapses on part of LG Polymers Pvt Ltd.
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India Environment Portal Resources :
- Order of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on poisonous gas leakage in LG Polymers, R. R. Venkatapuram, Visakhapatnam, 07/05/2020
- Report on LG Polymer styrene gas leak, R. R. Venkatapuram village, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, 28/05/2020
- Order of the National Green Tribunal regarding leak of chemical gas from the tanker at Tughlakabad, Delhi, 08/05/2017
- Order of the National Green Tribunal regarding the accident in Gujarat Ambuja Cement Ltd. dated 18/07/2013
- Supreme Court order on CBI's curative petition against 1996 apex court judgement on Bhopal gas tragedy
- Supreme Court order on Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster dated 09/08/2012
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