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9 killed, 13 injured in glass factory blast

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI DEC. 28. Nine persons, including seven labourers, were killed and 13 injured when the furnace of a three-storey illegal glass manufacturing factory exploded at Samaipur Badli in northwest Delhi today. Four of the injured are in a critical condition.

The incident occurred around 8 a.m. when around 20 labourers were at work in the factory at Samaipur village. Area residents said there was a loud explosion following which the factory's roof and other portions caved in. Glass windows of several other buildings near the factory were shattered due to the impact.

The residents who saw some labourers running out of the factory in flames called up the Delhi Fire Service, following which 11 fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the blaze and rescue those trapped inside. The fire was brought under control at 10.30 a.m.

Four persons were killed on the spot. The police said Anar Devi (50) and Brij Kishore (10) were killed when portions of collapsing factory fell on their house. The factory's foreman, Prem Kumar (40) and one of his colleague, died of severe burns. The others were taken to Babu Jagjivan Ram Hospital by CATS and Police Control Room vans.

Five of the injured were discharged from Jagjivan Ram Hospital after first aid, while the others were taken to Jai Prakash Narain Hospital. Five of them — Mustakh Khan (20), Sunil (22), Prem Chand (16), Vijay (18) and Dharmender (22) — died from injuries at JPN Hospital.

An injured labourer, Bablu, admitted to JPN Hospital with burns in his legs, said he was working on morning shift (from 5 a.m. to 12 noon) along with some other labourers when the explosion took place.

``For the past two days there was a leakage in the furnace. Suspecting that something might go wrong, we informed the factory supervisor, but he did not take any action,'' he said. Those admitted to the hospital were identified as Rakesh, Surender, Sanjeev, Puran, Ramanand and Rajender and Rahul.

Rahul's mother, Sarju, said she had gone to fetch water when the incident took place. Rahul who was playing outside the house near the factory suffered serious burns in his legs and other parts of the body. Sarju's husband, Ramanand, and daughter, Tulsi, too suffered minor injuries from flying glass pieces.

The police said they had registered a case of causing death due to negligence and had launched a hunt to arrest the factory owner, R.K. hanna, a resident of Prashant Vihar.

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