Thane: 38-Year-Old Man Dies From Injuries After Explosion At Badlapur Chemical Company; Case Filed Against Owner

Thane: Two days after an explosion at a chemical company in Badlapur left three residents of a nearby chawl injured, including a young child, 38-year-old Ghanshyam Mistri, whose one leg was amputated, died during treatment at JJ Hospital.

On Monday, the Badlapur East police had registered a case against the owner of Rare Pharma in connection with the explosion. The other injured are Ghanshyam’s wife Dhanshree Mistri, 35, and his 4-year-old daughter Priya Mistri.

A new section will be added under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita against the owner as one of the victims has died, officials said. The explosion was so intense that the reactor’s receiver flew about 400mt and crashed into a chawl. No arrests have been made yet. The workers from the factory fled after the explosion.

After the incident, officials from the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board and the Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health (DISH) and chemical experts rushed to the spot. The police said they called a forensic team and collected several chemical samples and sent them to the laboratory for analysis. The report will be submitted after conducting the investigation and ascertaining the cause of the explosion.

The police said they procured the factory’s documents from the company and are scanning them to check what kind of chemicals it can process. The drums containing methanol, a flammable substance, also caught fire, resulting in the entire factory being engulfed. The fire officials said they controlled the blaze and tried to prevent it from reaching the boiler and reactor.

Bhagwat Sonawane, the chief of Badlapur fire station said, “During the investigation, we learned that a total of 15 houses were affected, with fragments from the receiver tank flying out. Out of the 15, the Mistri house was hit by a heavy part of the receiver tank, resulting in grievous injuries to Ghanshyam and Dhanshree’s legs.”