Three labourers were killed and five more injured after a powerful gelatin-stick blast rocked a windmill construction site in Satara district in Western Maharashtra, 120 km from here.
Such was the intensity of explosion which occurred in remote Bothe village in Satara’s Mann Taluk that it damaged about a score homes along a 1 km stretch, wrecking window panes and disturbing furniture, said eyewitnesses.
The deceased have been identified as Shashikant Kulkarni (40), Dada Jagdale (52) and Sandeep Mane (35), said the police. The injured, two of whom are said to be critical, have been admitted to the Satara Civil Hospital.
The factory happens to be owned by the brother of the local MLA from Mann-Khatav, Jaykumar Gore.
According to an injured company supervisor, combustion sparks from the waste dump outside the godown apparently triggered a blaze which resulted in the explosion, given the large amount of gelatin stored there, used in windmill construction.
The district police said that a definite cause had yet to be ascribed and a probe was underway.
