Fire after blast at Nashik chemical factory apparently not caused by boiler: Official

Mumbai, Jan 1 (PTI) The massive fire following a blast at a chemical factory in Maharashtra’s Nashik district on Sunday, which has so far claimed two lives, does not appear to have been caused by a boiler, a senior official said.

The incident, which occurred at the Jindal Poly Films factory, located in Mundhegaon along the Mumbai-Agra highway in Igatpuri taluka, also left 17 others injured. The blast was so strong that it was heard in nearby villages, and the fire and smoke could be seen from a distance, officials said.

Dhaval Antapurkar, Director at the Directorate of Steam Boilers, a Maharashtra government body, said in a statement, “The three boilers out of the five at the Jindal Poly Films in Igatpuri were of waste heat recovery or running on thermic fluid. It does not use any inflammable material to prepare steam.”

“The remaining two boilers are of small industrial boilers type, which means there is a minimum chance of it causing fire inside the plant,” he said.

Deputy director of the department will reach the spot and a review will be conducted to know the exact cause of the fire, he added in the statement.