Three contractual workers died in a fire that broke out inside the rubber plant of Reliance Industries in Vadodara. (Express Photo By Bhupendra Rana 29/11/2018)Three people were killed after a fire broke out at a Polybutadiene Rubber (PBR) plant in Reliance Industries, Vadodara, early Thursday morning. According to sources, the accident took place around 3 am when other employees of the plant had gone out for snacks, while the three were inside.
The deceased identified as Arun Dabhi (49), Pritesh Patel and Mahendra Jadav (42) have been taken to SSG hospital for the post-mortem examination. According to Arun’s sister Hina Dabhi, she was informed about the accident around 8:30 am.
“He had been working at the same factory for the last 20 years on contractual basis as a plant operator and supervisor. He had evening shift yesterday but had continued a night shift because a friend of his wanted to switch shifts,” said Hina.
Mahendra Jadav, survived by his wife and two sons, was also working as a plant operator. According to his brother Mukesh Jadav, who also works at the warehouses at Reliance, the plant has 16 workers including 13 labourers, one in charge and two plant operators. He was informed about the accident over the phone at 7 in the morning, he says.
Mahendra Jadav, survived by his wife and two sons, was also working as a plant operator. (Express Photo By Bhupendra Rana 29/11/2018)“My elder brother had been employed at the same plant for the last 15 years or more. We expect that either a job is provided to one of the family members or a fair compensation to help with the education of the children,” said Mukesh.
Reliance Industries released a statement, “In an unfortunate incident this morning a fire broke out in PBR2 plant of the Vadodara complex. The fire was restricted to one section of the plant and timely action by Reliance firefighting team helped in quickly extinguishing the fire. Unfortunately, three contract workers who were injured later succumbed to injuries, despite the best efforts of the medical team. Our prayers and sympathies are with their families in their time of grief and will support the family to overcome their personal tragedy. While an investigation will be conducted to ascertain the reasons of the fire, the rest of the complex is continuing with normal operations.”
