Dombivali blast: Toll reaches 11, rescue operations on

The body of Snehal Waqatkar (28), daughter-in-law of Vishwas Vinayak Waqatkar, the owner of Probace Enterprises, was found in the debris on Friday. It was taken to Rukmini Bai Hospital in Kalyan, where her brother from Pune later identified it.

[related-post]

All three members of the Waqatkar family who had been reported missing were among the dead. The bodies of Sumit Waqatkar (30) and Nandan Waqatkar (33), sons of Vishwas, were also identified on Friday.

One Umesh Prasad Kahar was found alive in the debris, but passed away later in Sion Hospital.

The others who died were identified as Mahesh Pande (23), Raju Shirgire (50), Neelam Dedhe (26), Dnyaneshwar Hajari (45) and Sushant Kamble. Two bodies remained unidentified.

The blast, which took place around 11.30 am, shattered almost all the windows in a 1.5-km radius and injured at least 140 people. Within 10 minutes, around 10 fire engines and 10 water tankers reached the spot.

A local resident told The Indian Express that people living in the nearby areas were hoping for some financial relief from the government, as the blast caused a lot of destruction.

“The explosion hit the society like an earthquake. Half of the residents have vacated their flats temporarily,” said Santosh Lande, resident of Chandrodaya housing society.

Anupam Srivastava, commandant, 5th battalion, NDRF said,” So far, 11 bodies have been recovered, of which six were on the day of the blast and four on the second day. One person was found alive, but died in hospital. A team of 45 members is working day and night to clear the debris.”

Aval Patel (17), from Pushpamvilla society, said,”Our society was the worst-hit as it is near the spot where the explosion took place.”

On Friday, many people from the Pushpamvilla society were seen standing in front of the society waiting for the NDRF to clear the debris. “The blast scared me so much that I couldn’t sleep properly,” said Satyanarayan Pal (39), an auto driver.

Doctors from AIMS hospital said most of the victims admitted had suffered head and multiple injuries and will take about 10 days to heal. The injured are admitted in Icon, RR Hospital, AIMS, Shashtrinagar, Neptune, Mamata hospital and Rukminibai hospital.