Blast at ISRO space centre kills 6, hurts 3

Six people died and three suffered critical injuries in a major blast in a building at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota this af...

Six people died and three suffered critical injuries in a major blast in a building at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota this afternoon. This was the first incident of its kind at the ISRO centre.

According to the information trickling out from SHAR, the blast occurred in building 117 of SPROB, where rocket-launching motors are tested on a regular basis. A nine-member team was working in the building of the Solid Propellant Space Booster Plant (SPROB) conducting experiments on rocket-launching motors when one of them exploded at about 2.30 pm.

Six people died on the spot. Three others suffered critical injuries. Four of the six killed have been identified. They included three ISRO technical personnel and a casual labourer. The bodies of the other two are charred beyond recognition.

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SPROB produces composite solid propellants for rocket motors of the Dhawan Space Centre. Sources claimed the explosion would have no impact on ISRO’s projects.

The Indain Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has appointed a committee to go into the cause of the incident, and its chairman G Madhavan

Nair is on his way to Sriharikota to take stock of the situation.

Though the incident occurred at 2.30 pm, the Nellore district administration came to know about it around 5 pm only.

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