At least eight labourers were killed and six seriously injured when a cold storage warehouse collapsed under the impact of an ammonium gas tank blast in Allahabad on Monday afternoon.
“We heard a massive explosion and then saw the warehouse crumbling down. There were 30 labourers in the warehouse at that time,” said Naveen Kushwaha, a resident of Chandpur in Phaphamau.
The majority of the labourers hailed from Bihar’s Saharsa district.
The warehouse is owned by Samajwadi Party leader Ansar Ahmad.
Allahabad district magistrate Manish Kumar Verma said the injured had been admitted to SRN Hospital in the city. “There may be some labourers buried under the rubble. National and State Disaster Response Forces are trying to locate and rescue them,” he added.
A police officer said Ahmad had been detained for questioning. “He had not followed several important specifications. A fire system was also not in place. We’ll interrogate him and take a decision,” the officer said.
A villager claimed that the cold storage had been operating without a fire system or an evacuation plan, but no one questioned Ahmad.
“Covering their mouths with towels, the villagers had started the rescue work much before the NDRF and SDRF teams could approach the site because the ammonia was still emanating from there,” he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Yogi Adityanath have each announced a compensation of ₹2 lakh for families of the deceased. The injured will get ₹50,000.