A tragic industrial accident within a chemical factory near Basaralu killed two migrant workers and injured several others. In Keerthi Chemical Factory, near Karekatte, this happened after a chemical storage tank exploded while workers were dismantling and relocating the facility.
The Incident: A Fatal Blast During Relocation
The victims, both hailing from Bihar, were among a group of workers who were supposed to transfer the factory operations from Karekatte to a new location. The relocation process, according to some reports, had been in progress for the last month. On Sunday morning, while the laborers cleared a large chemical storage tank, a loud explosion occurred.
The scale of the blast was so immense that the two workers died on the spot. The fumes and the impact severely affected two other laborers who were in close proximity. They were rushed straight to a nearby hospital, where treatment is taking place.
A Record of Negligence and Public Protest
This is not the first time the Keerthi Chemical Factory has received news over safety mishaps. Officials and local residents remembered a similar disaster reported at the same site four years earlier. In another chemical leak, hundreds of acres of crops in the surrounding villages were destroyed, and local livestock, including two dogs, died. In the outbreak of the past leak, the local community had launched violent protests, calling for the factory’s permanent closure due to its environmental and health hazards.
The Mandya district administration intervened and paid compensation for the affected farmers. Due to the relentless public pressure as a result of the previous safety breaches they have faced, the factory was ordered to be relocated a task that has now brought even greater tragedy.
Questions Around Safety Protocols
Basaralu police submitted a case and launched an inquiry into the blast. The situation indicates a complete lack of safety in the handling of hazardous materials from the outset. Local activists want to know why the tank was not neutralized or made to be completely rid of volatile gases before dismantling began. The repeated accidents at this location have rekindled the villagers’ anger, who believe they have faced damage from the management’s continual negligence, which has placed lives at stake.
