3 dead and 9 injured in a blast at 'illegal' fireworks factory in Sonipat

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Two women and a child were killed, with nine others injured in a blast at an "illegal" firecracker unit in a village in Haryana's Sonipat district on Saturday, officials said to PTI.

According to PTI, police said that the workers along with few of their family members were present at the site when the blast took place at the factory in Ridhau village.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, said a police officer from Sonipat.

"Three have died in the incident, of which two are women, while one is a child. Nine injured persons have been taken to PGIMS Hospital in Rohtak," the officer said to PTI.

The police officer claimed that the chemical used in making firecrackers appears to have caught fire in the "illegal unit", which eventually led to the blast.

Earlier this year, a blast had occurred in a firecracker manufacturing unit at Terkheda in Dharashiv district of Maharashtra, injuring one worker.

The incident took place around 9.30 am at Suraj Fireworks factory in Dharashiv on 24th May, an official said to PTI.

"There are several licensed firecracker manufacturing units in Terkheda. A blast occurred in one of these factories. A worker named Changdev Dahavare, aged around 55 years, went to open the factory when it happened. According to eyewitnesses, a lot of gas had accumulated in the factory that led to the blast." Tehsildar of Washi taluka in Dharashiv, Rajesh Landge, told PTI.

"The impact of the blast was so strong that the entire room where it occurred collapsed," he said, according to the PTI.

"The company does have a license to manufacture firecrackers. But we are checking other documents of the unit," Rajesh Landge added.

In another incident, a boiler blasted in Maharashtra's Dombivli area, killing at least nine people and several others were injured in the incident.

A boiler erupted at Amudan Chemicals, located in Phase 2 of the Dombivli MIDC region, at approximately 1.40 pm on May 23rd; the impact of the explosion and the resulting blaze injured surrounding factories and households, the officials said to PTI.

According to the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the impacted chemical facility produced food colors and used peroxides, which are extremely reactive and unstable substances that, in certain situations, can create violent explosions, PTI reported.