Six injured in cylinder blast at eatery in Dombivli

Representational Image. File Pic

Six persons were injured in an LPG cylinder explosion at an eatery at Dombivli in Thane district on Wednesday evening, reported PTI citing fire brigade officials. Two out of the six have been seriusly injured.

A fire also broke out after the incident at a Chinese food joint on Tandon road around 5 pm, they said.

Three fire engines of the local civic body rushed to the spot and put out the fire within half an hour, officials said. According to the PTI report, the injured were undergoing treatment at a nearby hospital.

One more person arrested in Dombivli chemical factory blast case

Police have arrested another director of a chemical company in connection with a reactor blast at its unit in Dombivli in Maharashtra last week which claimed 10 lives and left more than 60 injured, an official said on Wednesday, reported news agency PTI.

With this two directors of the company have so far been arrested in connection with the Dombivli chemical factory blast case.

The impact of the blast on May 23 at Amudan Chemicals unit, located in Dombivli area of Thane district, was so severe that it shattered window panes of houses and damaged cars, roads and electric poles in the vicinity, reported PTI.

After the incident, the police had arrested Amudan Chemicals director Malay Mehta (38), reported PTI.

On Tuesday, the police summoned the company's another director, Sneha Mehta (35), the wife of Malay Mehta, and placed her under arrest after detailed questioning as prima facie her involvement was established in the Dombivli chemical factory blast case, the crime branch official said, reported PTI.

She will be produced in a court on Wednesday for remand, he said.

She was not named in the FIR registered by the police last week in connection with the incident.

A probe team also visited the residence of Mehtas in neighbouring Mumbai and collected some documents which are vital to the ongoing probe, the official said, reported PTI.

State Industries Minister Uday Samant on Tuesday said a three-member high-level committee comprising principal secretaries of the Industries, Labour and Environment departments has been formed to probe the incident and it will submit its report in three weeks.

An expert team from New Delhi will also conduct a probe to ascertain the exact cause of the blast even as efforts were underway to locate missing workers, if any, state Labour Minister Suresh Khade said on Monday.

In view of similar incidents in some factories situated in the Dombivli MIDC (Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation) area in the past, local people have been demanding that companies be shifted to other locations, reported PTI.

According to residents, the Dombivli industrial area was located on the outskirts of the city but with rapid urbanisation, new housing schemes have come up in its vicinity, reported PTI.