6 killed in Maharashtra hand glove factory fire, dousing operation underway

At least six people were killed after a massive fire broke out at a hand glove manufacturing company in Maharashtra’s Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in the wee hours of Sunday, news agency ANI reported citing officials.

The fire department said the blaze erupted around 2:15am at the factory located in Waluj MIDC area.

“We received a call at 2:15am. When we reached the incident site, the entire factory was on fire. Locals informed us that six people were trapped inside. Our officers entered and the bodies of six people have been recovered,” Mohan Mungse, a fire officer, told ANI.

“The operation to douse the fire was underway,” he added.

Earlier, residents had claimed at least five workers were trapped inside the building. Officials with the fire department later confirmed the deaths of six people in the incident. The workers were reportedly sleeping inside the building when the fire broke out.

“10-15 workers were sleeping inside the building when the fire broke out. Some managed to escape, but at least five were trapped inside,” one of the workers had told ANI.

The exact cause of the fire was not ascertained yet.

In a similar incident on Thursday, a fire destroyed a chemical factory in an industrial pocket in Navi Mumbai. The blaze broke out at the factory in plot no.C-03 in the Taloja MIDC area, about 35 km from Mumbai, around 8.30pm.

Twelve fire engines were pressed into service, and the blaze was put out after eight hours, chief of the Disaster Management Cell of the TMC Yasin Tadvi said.

The fire engines from Taloja, Ambernath and Patalganaga MIDC, Panvel, Neral, Koparkhairne, CBD-Belapur and Kharghar fire stations, and also CIDCO and ONGC fire services were roped in for the operation, he said. While the fire destroyed the factory, its cause is being probed, he had added.