Journalism of Courage
One contract worker died and another was seriously injured in a fire involving explosive material at the High Energy Material Research Laboratory (HEMRL) of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), at Pashan in Pune on Tuesday afternoon.
Police have identified the deceased worker as Laxmikant Ramesh Sonawane (26), a resident of Ramnagar in Warje, and the injured as Yogesh Kirtikar.
“The deceased was a contract worker. All the safety measures were in place at the time of the accident. A high-level DRDO committee will investigate the causes of the accident and come up with a report,” said HEMRL Director KPS Murthy.
Senior Inspector Arun Waykar of Hinjewadi police station said, “The workers were taking samples of some explosives when suddenly, some of the substances they were handling exploded.”
HEMRL is one of the oldest laboratories of the DRDO.
