19 December,2014 12:56 AM IST | | Sadaguru Pandit
A fire broke out at Orex Pharmaceuticals causing 12 blasts; fire brigade officials say a chemical reaction probably caused it
A series of 12 cylinder blasts caused after a fire broke out at Orex Pharmaceuticals, a vitamin manufacturing unit, rocked Shil Phata at Kalyan around 12.05 am on Thursday.
While eight workers who were present at the unit managed to escape the compound in time, Shivkumar Vishwakarma, an 18-year-old labourer sustained severe burns and was admitted to Thakur Multispeciality hospital.
The local residents complained of noise-induced hearing loss, but all of them showed signs of recovery within approximately four to five hours. Fire fighters said that 14 fire engines from Ambarnath, Ulhasnagar, Bhivandi and Kalyan doused the fire twice, once at 12.30am and when it broke out again at 10.30am.
The entire MIDC area, heavily populated by over 100 industries had to shut down its operations for the night due to the incident. Suresh Shinde, Fire Officer, KDMC fire station said that the cooling operations were going on till 5 pm.
The cause of fire was to be ascertained, it was probably because of the chemical reactions, he said. Manpada Police Station has only reported the incident as a fire breakout.
