Two persons who were severely injured in a major explosion last week at the Metal and Steel Factory (MSF) at Ishapore [Ichhapur] in North 24 Paragans district, succumbed to their injuries late on Sunday night. The explosion took place on Saturday evening at a 20 tonne furnace where steel is prepared. The MSF, controlled by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), is one of the main producers of raw materials for military hardware.
“There was a blast in the 20 tonne furnace of the Ishapore Metal and Steel plant on March 11, in the afternoon that led to serious injuries to two persons who died (on Sunday) at the Command Hospital in Kolkata,” MoD spokesperson Wing Commander S.S. Birdi said. He added that apart from the deceased — Falguni Banerjee (37) and Bablu Majumdar (50) — seven others also sustained minor injuries in the blast and are currently out of danger.
MSF authorities said that the reason behind the incident is yet to be determined and they have set up a fact finding committee to probe the matter.
“We have instructed the high-level fact finding committee to submit the report as soon as possible. The next of kin of the diseased will be awarded compensation as per MoD norms,” MSF spokesperson P.K. Behera told The Hindu on Tuesday.
However, contradictory versions emerged from the MoD and MSF authorities over the nature of the incident. According to MSF authorities the incident is “not an explosion, but an instance of splashing of liquid metal.” Mr. Behera said that the “accident occurred when liquid metal was being shifted.”
The 145-year-old factory was set up in 1872, as part of the Gun and Shell Factory at Cossipore [Kasipur] in North Kolkata which was then known as the Foundry and Shell Factory. Following expansion of metallurgical activities (method of extracting metals from their ores) of the organisation it (MSF, the metallurgical wing of the factory) was relocated at its current site in Ishapore in 1905. It became an independent unit of the Ordinance Factories and was renamed as Metal and Steel Factory.
