Dombivli reactor blast: DNA samples of six matched with recovered body parts, toll jumps to 13

With the latest development, the death toll of the shocking May 23 blast incident has now reached 13. This also includes two unidentified bodies at the civic hospital. Their DNA report is expected to come by Saturday, the police said.

Ashok Koli, senior inspector of the Thane police crime branch, who is also investigating officer of the case, said that on Thursday the police received six DNA reports which matched with the kin of Manish Das, 22, Sirazuddin Ahmed, 24, Bharat Jaiswar 40, Ravi Kumar, 40, Ravi Rajbhar, 30 and Manoj Chauhan, 35.

A DNA report was received on Wednesday that confirmed that one body belonged to Badlapur resident Vishal Paudwal 39, a graphic designer employed with the Cosmos company. His wife Pratiksha Paudwal collected the body and performed last rites in Thane on Wednesday.

Bodies (or body parts recovered from the site) would be handed over to their kin on Friday, the police said.

“Initially four deceased people were identified and nine people were missing. Out of the nine now seven have been identified with the DNA test. A total of 13 people had died in the unfortunate incident,” Koli said.

A massive reactor blast took place in the Amudan Chemical Pvt Ltd in Dombivli MIDC on May 23 in which 13 people were killed and 68 were injured.  The explosion was heard in a radius of two kilometres and the window panes of nearby houses in the building in 500-metre radius were shattered in the impact. Nearly eight companies surrounding Amudan were badly damaged. The people working at the place were thrown far away. Most of the deceased include workers working in the Amudan company previously known as Amber.

After the blast incident, as many as 10 families had approached the Manpada police station in Dombivli, reporting that their family members working at the MIDC blast incident site were missing.

Bodies have been hard to identify as the high-velocity blast disfigured bodies severely.

Thane police crime branch officials have arrested the owners of the Amudan Chemical Pvt Ltd Malay Mehta and his wife Sneha Mehta. Police claimed they were responsible for the compliance of safety precautions while handling, processing and storing hazardous chemicals.