7 dead, 23 injured in a chemical factory blast in Gujarat's Panchmahal

A blast took place at Gujarat Fluorochemicals Limited (GFL) that manufactures refrigerants in Ranjitnagar village in Ghoghamba taluka of Panchmahal district on last Thursday.

According to the district administration and police, the explosion inside the MPI-1 unit of the INOX-owned refrigerant manufacturing plant took place around 10 am. The explosion was heard several kilometres away, police said.

Fire tenders from across the district, including private companies in Halol, Kalol and Godhra, were rushed to the site.

The district police blocked access to an approach road of about five kilometres to the Ranjitnagar complex of GFL, a company owned by INOX. The facility manufactures fluorospecialities and refrigerants, according to the company’s official website.

The plant that witnessed the explosion was GFL’s single largest refrigerant plant in India.

“The site started in 1989 has four multi-purpose plants and is well equipped to handle diverse chemistry for fluorospeciality products in pharmaceutical and agrochemical industry globally. The site is self-sufficient with R & D, process scale-up and technology transfer capabilities,” the website states.

The death toll from the blast rises to seven while 23 people are undergoing treatment, said police on last Friday.

"A total of 30 people got injured in the blast that took place on December 16 inside GFL, in Panchmahal district of Gujarat. Seven people died. A total of 23 workers are under treatment. The probe is on”, said H Rathod, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Halol Division, Panchmhal.

The preliminary inquiry report submitted by the Ghoghamba Mamlatdar and Executive Magistrate to the District Collector of Panchmahal states the fire was a result of a blast in the boiler of one of the plants of the refrigerant factory.

GFL has announced a compensation of Rs 20 lakh for those killed in the blast and Rs 7 lakh for the injured victims.