Gulf Oil blast kills worker
HYDERABAD: A powerful
explosion rocked the detonator manufacturing facility of Gulf Oil Corporation in Kukatpally, killing one worker and injuring three others on Tuesday. The blast took place around noon, but till 5 pm, the fire department had not been informed.
"You are breaking the news to me," fire chief Alok Srivastava told The Times of India when queried about the incident in the evening. This is the third mishap since 2003 at the
factory which manufactures explosive material. Nine persons died in a blast in its fuse manufacturing facility on Nov. 25, 2003.
A fire broke out in a laboratory six months ago, though none was killed. The factory, located bang in the middle of populous localities, manufactures the deadly explosive pentaethylene tetranitrate (PETN).
Eye-witnesses to Tuesday's blast said a senior fitter, Gnaneshwar, was trying to repair the valve of a tube in the PETN
unit after some
metallic substances blocked its flow. This led to the explosion and Gnaneshwar died at once.
The metallic substance (a mixture of acetone and PETN) from the tubes spilled on three other
workers—Mallesh, 50, Sudershan, 52, and Raju, 22—causing them severe burns. They were shifted to a corporate hospital where the condition of Raju, who suffered 40 per cent burns, is said to be critical.
Fourteen
employees were working in the unit when the blast occurred. Under the impact, a number of structures in the vicinity suffered damage. On hearing the blast, employees ran for cover, while company officials shut the gates in a bid to prevent the entry of the media into the premises.
The blast left workers shaken. "We risk our lives every day. Gnaneshwar was planning to take voluntary retirement," a employee who did not wish to be quoted said. The explosion set off panic in among the local residents.
"Time and again we have requested the government to shift the factory out of here. But there's none to hear us," Omar Sharif, a resident of Moosapet, said.
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