Four labourers die as blast furnace structure collapses in West Burdwan’s Jamuria

Four labourers, including a woman, engaged in the construction of a concrete blast furnace at a private steel factory in West Burdwan’s Jamuria, were killed and several others were injured when the structure collapsed on them on Saturday night.

Sources said one of the injured was in a critical condition and on ventilation. The other injured were released after primary treatment.

The deceased workers were Sukanta Pal, 35, Balaram Das, 40, Bulbul Barua, 49, and Mohammad Akbar, 40. Sukanta and Balaram lived under the jurisdiction of the Jamuria police station, while Akbar hailed from Murshidabad and Bulbul from Assam.

They were all engaged in the construction of the concrete blast furnace at Shyam SEL & Power Limited at the Jamuria Industrial Complex.

Sources said the construction was in full swing at unit number 3 of the power plant area of the steel plant when the incident occurred around 7pm on Saturday.

“Construction was going on when suddenly the blast furnace collapsed on the workers. They were trapped under the debris,” said a steel plant source.

The factory management immediately began the rescue operation and pulled out the injured workers trapped under the debris. The local police, fire brigade officials and disaster management team of the district administration were also pressed into service.

The injured were sent to a nearby hospital in Asansol, where four of them were declared dead on arrival. Those who suffered minor injuries were released after primary treatment. The critically injured worker was shifted to a private hospital in Durgapur for better treatment and was kept on ventilation.

Pranav Kumar, the Asansol-Durgapur police commissioner, and BJP MLA from Jamuria Bijan Mukherjee rushed to the spot and monitored the situation.

Residents gathered before the plant gate and held an agitation against the factory management, alleging lack of safety measures. A scuffle broke out between the police and the agitators when the law enforcers tried to remove them from the spot. The MLA intervened and pacified the angry villagers.

The private steel plant authority has started a probe into the incident and announced monetary compensation to perform the last rites of the deceased. The police have also begun a probe.