One was killed and two were seriously injured in a major explosion at the state-run MahaGenco’s waste heat recovery plant at its generation plant located at Uran in Navi Mumbai on Sunday. MahaGenco in a statement said that the boiler pump exploded at the gas turbine power plant which triggered a fire at 4.15 pm. A senior MahaGenco officer told the Free Press Journal, ‘’ Today’s incident is a wake-up call for the generation company as it will soon conduct a comprehensive fire safety audit and put in place SOP while conducting operations at the waste heat recovery plant.’’
‘’The High-Pressure Booster Circulation Pump suddenly developed a technical fault and was thrown out of place. At the same time, Boiler Chief Incharge Vivek Dhumale, Boiler Technician KK Patil and Assistant Vishnu Patil were working in the vicinity of the boiler for a routine inspection. However, unfortunately in this accidental accident 3 of them got burnt due to high-pressure steam. Dhumal died while being taken to the hospital while two others are currently being treated at the National Burns Center Hospital at Airoli in Navi Mumbai.
Desk operator Pradeep Singh, who sustained minor injuries, was admitted to Apollo Hospital in Belapur and his condition is stable,’’ said MahaGenco spokesman.
MahaGenco team comprising Chief Engineer Sunil Ingle, director Sanjay Marudkar and executive director Girish Kumarwar rushed to the Uran plant. Efforts were underway to restore normalcy. ‘’After a thorough inspection, the concerned boiler unit will be put into operation,’’ said the MahaGenco spokesman.
MahaGenco has announced a team of experts at the headquarters will conduct a probe into today’s explosion and make recommendations to prevent such accidents in future.
MahaGenco has announced that all the assistance will be given to the families of the affected persons.
Meanwhile, Dr Sunil Keswani, medical director, of the National Burn Centre, Airoli said “We have received two patients with 85 percent burn injuries due to which we have kept them in the critical ward. We will be observing the patients closely for the next 72 hours.”
