Women bear the brunt in Nagpur factory blast: 18 killed, 24 injured, most victims female

At GMC, 22 packets containing dismembered remains arrived for DNA identification. Officials said families would have to wait for at least 48 hours before claiming the remains.

Teams from the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) and the Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health (DISH) have begun investigating the incident.

Talking to The Indian Express, Superintendent of Police (Rural) Harssh Poddar said that two preliminary reports have been submitted to the Nagpur police. Based on these reports, several lapses have been identified under the Explosives Rules, the Explosives Act, and the Factories Act. Acting on the findings, the Nagpur police are registering a case of culpable homicide against the factory management.

In a statement to The Indian Express, SBL Energy Limited said, “The incident occurred in the packing area of the facility where no active manufacturing operations were underway at the time. The exact cause remains under investigation, and we are cooperating fully with the concerned authorities.”

Security personnel and the Fire Brigade were stationed outside the SBL company in Raulgaon, near Katol in Nagpur on Sunday. (Express Photo by Dhananjay Khedkar)

At Orange City Hospital, 19 injured workers were admitted; one was declared brought dead. Most sustained severe thermal burns covering 30 to 80 per cent of their bodies, along with splinter injuries. Some are experiencing hearing loss, while others have mechanical wounds and bone fractures. All remain critical and require urgent surgical intervention, hospital authorities said.

Outside the hospital, relatives waited through the day for updates.

A grief-stricken Meena Dhurve sat on the footpath outside Orange City Hospital, waiting for permission to see her 24-year-old daughter Mayuri Dhurve.

“Doctors told me Mayuri has burns all over her body. They said she also has multiple fractures,” Meena said. “A woman working at the company informed us about the tragedy. Since 10 am, we have been sitting outside the hospital.”

Mayuri’s father Harichandra Dhurve said, “We told her not to work at the explosives factory. He jokhmicha kaam aahe, sodun de (it is risky work, leave it),” he said. “But she would always say – ‘just two more years, and then you can marry me off.’”

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh to the families of those who died. An ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) to the next of kin of each deceased and Rs 50,000 to the injured was also announced.

SBL Energy Limited said it would bear the full cost of treatment of the injured and has initiated an internal review.

Incorporated in 2002, SBL Energy Limited is engaged in the manufacture of mining and industrial explosives. The company produces a range of products including slurry explosives, emulsion explosives, seismic explosives, bulk emulsion explosives and low column charge explosives.

It also manufactures explosive accessories such as ordinary detonators, electric detonators, non-electric detonators, electronic detonators, detonating fuses, copper delay detonators and cast boosters.

According to company officials present at the hospital premises on Sunday, more than 1,600 people — including staff and workers — are employed at the facility. The officials said there was a fire at the plant in 2025, but no casualties were reported. They maintained that the present incident is the first of its kind since the company’s inception.

The packing section of SBL Energy Limited at Raulgaon in Katol taluka, where the blast took place, mainly employed women. A worker at the company, Naina Gaikwad, who lost her cousin in Sunday’s accident, said a significant number of women were employed at the unit after work shifts were reduced from 12 hours to eight hours a day. Gaikwad, who has been working at the plant for over six months, said many workers travel daily from nearby villages by company buses and shared vehicles.