Five Workers Killed in Reactor Blast at Gujarat Pharma Plant in Bharuch

Five workers were killed and five others were injured when a reactor exploded at a pharmaceutical plant in Bharuch district, Gujarat, late on Friday night. Police confirmed the toll on Saturday, October 17. The blast also set off a leak of methylene dichloride gas at the site, officials said.

What happened

The explosion took place at about 10 p.m. on Friday, October 16, at SynZeal Pharmachem in the Saykha GIDC industrial estate in Vagra taluka. IANS reported that the vessel was a 15-kilolitre reactor and that the blast happened during a hydrogenation process. Bharuch Sub-Divisional Magistrate Manisha Manani said the force of the explosion ripped the reactor tank apart and scattered machinery parts across the premises.

An official of the Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health said the blast during the hydrogenation process triggered the leak of methylene dichloride, known as MDC, gas. Reports from the estate described dust and haze after the blast, and workers and others nearby complained of severe eye irritation. Police and district officials reached the plant soon after and rescue work began.

Manani said the company was set up at Saykha only a year ago and makes pharmaceutical intermediaries. IANS reported that the unit began operations with 53 employees.

The victims

Superintendent of Police Akshyaraj Makwana told PTI that five people were killed and five others were injured. He named the dead as Jaydeep Maheshbhai Patel and Bhavik Dilipkumar Vasava, both from Amod, Vrund Talaviya from Talala in Gir Somnath district, and Aniket Harilal Gautam and Arjunkumar Ramsingh Gautam, who were from Uttar Pradesh.

The injured workers are Pavankumar Ramsingh Gautam, Mausamkumar Ramsevak Yadav, Shivdayal Ramavatar Yadav, Pratik Pravin Prajapati and Priyanshu Bahadurlal. Makwana said they came from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and are under treatment. IANS, in its report, put the number of injured at six. The bodies of the dead were taken to Bharuch Civil Hospital, and IANS reported that the injured were taken to hospitals in Bharuch and Vadodara.

Investigation under way

Officials from the Gujarat Pollution Control Board, the Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health and the police reached the site, and the cause of the explosion is under investigation. Manani said officials are examining what caused the blast and whether the unit followed industrial safety rules. No cause had been established by Saturday morning.

Second deadly Gujarat plant blast in days

The Bharuch blast is the second deadly industrial explosion in Gujarat in a few days. On Thursday, four workers were killed in a boiler explosion at a colour company in the Chhatral GIDC area of Gandhinagar district, Daily Jagran reported. That case is also under investigation. Together, the two blasts have killed nine workers in one week in the state's industrial estates, and they put the enforcement of safety rules in those estates under fresh scrutiny.

For the families of the five men who died at Saykha, the findings will come later. The first facts are simple and hard: a reactor tore apart during a night process, gas leaked into the estate, and five workers did not come home.