Lalru, January 8: Three factory workers were charred to death while one another suffered over 50 per cent burn injuries in a fire flash from a boiler at a power generation plant within the premises of the Nahar Group of Industries at Lalru on the intervening night of January 7 and 8.
The deceased have been identified as Munish Kumar (21), Hemant Kumar (21) and Sanjay Yadav (35), all residents of Bihar. The condition of Sonu, who sustained over 50 per cent burn injuries and has been admitted to the GMCH, Sector 32, Chandigarh, is stated to be stable.
The police said the incident occurred around 2.15 am when Sanjay Yadav, along with three others, was on a repair assignment of a motor near the boiler of the 12 MW power plant at the factory unit.
The police said one of the pipes in the boiler developed a technical glitch following which it burst. Due to the pipe burst, hot gas and steam escaped from the valve of one of the boilers which was accidentally opened with a pressure, causing burn injuries to the four workers, who were working near it.
The victims were rushed to the GMCH, where Munish, Hemant and Sanjay succumbed to their injuries, while Sonu was under treatment, the police said.
An official posted at the Nahar Group of Industries told media that at the time of the explosion, the temperature of the steam was around 480 degrees and the pressure in the boiler was 80 kg per square mm. Those working close to the boiler bore the brunt of the fire flash from it, he said.
Dalbir Singh, SHO, Lalru, said on the basis of the statement of the relatives of the deceased, the police had initiated inquest proceedings in the matter and if something more came up during the investigation, the next course of action would be decided accordingly.
The SHO said the bodies were handed over to their family members after an autopsy. The family members of Sanjay Yadav had been informed and they would reach here tomorrow for the postmortem.
Terming the incident unfortunate, a spokesperson for the unit said they would look into the reasons which led to the incident so that such incidents did not occur again. Asked if any compensation would be paid to kin of the deceased, he said the families would be compensated as per the norms of the company.
