Thane (Maharashtra): The death toll in the blast-cum-blaze of Amudan Chemicals Pvt Ltd factory in Dombivli town of Thane rose to 11 with another three bodies dug up from the rubble, officials said here on Friday.
The disaster struck the industrial unit on Thursday afternoon.
Dombivli and surroundings of an area of around 4 km woke up to a strong stench of burnt chemicals and a thin layer of smoky ash on roads, shops and homes, from Thursday’s tragedy and most people were seen moving around wearing face masks to avoid the stink.
The NDRF, SDRF and Fire Brigade, which had halted operations after dark, resumed the rescue operations and recovered three more bodies from the rubble, while another 64 persons were injured and admitted to various hospitals.
While the blaze was extinguished Thursday night, cooling operations were underway, the search continued for more victims feared trapped under the debris, and the effects of the disaster were felt in a radius of over 2-3 km.
This morning, the Amudan factory premises inside the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) resembled a war zone emitting a foul smell of burnt metal, crashed buildings, chemicals and deaths.
Late on Thursday evening, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde visited the tragedy site and said that in view of the risks posed by certain categories of industries, the government plans to shift such hazardous factories to another location to avoid such disasters in future.
(Inputs from IANS)