Nagpur factory explosion leaves 17 dead, Bodies charred beyond recognition

At least 17 workers were killed and 18 others injured after a powerful explosion ripped through the detonator packing unit of SBL Energy Limited at Raulgaon village in Katol tehsil of Nagpur district on Sunday morning, police said.

The blast occurred between 7 am and 7.15 am at the mining and industrial explosives manufacturing facility. The intensity of the explosion left several bodies charred beyond recognition , forcing authorities to begin DNA testing to identify the deceased. Blood samples of close relatives are being collected at the Government Medical Hospital and College (GMCH), Nagpur.

Inconsolable family members gathered outside the factory premises, anxiously waiting for news of their loved ones. “We are clueless. We don’t understand what has happened, and we have yet to find the body of our ward,” a grieving relative told PTI.

One of the victims was 26-year-old Mangeshri Yeskar , whose mother Kanta Chachane works in another unit of the same factory campus. Chachane recalled hearing a massive explosion around 7 am, followed by repeated blasts for nearly an hour and a half. “I am shattered,” the 42-year-old woman said, struggling to come to terms with the loss of her daughter.

Mangeshri, separated from her husband and raising a teenage daughter and young son, had been working at the factory for the past year. On Sunday morning, she and her mother had arrived together for duty, but were posted in different units. While Chachane survived, Mangeshri was inside the blast-hit section and was later declared dead. The family now awaits DNA confirmation to claim her body.

The injured were immediately shifted to hospitals in Nagpur, where they are undergoing treatment. District Collector Vipin Itankar and Superintendent of Police Harsh Podar rushed to the spot to supervise rescue and relief operations.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis ordered a thorough investigation into the cause of the explosion and said he was in constant touch with the local administration. Teams of the National Disaster Response Force , State Disaster Response Force, Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) and Defence Information System for Security (DISS) were deployed at the site and rescue operations were carried out on a war footing.

In a statement, SBL Energy Limited said the blast occurred in the detonator packing unit , where no active manufacturing was underway at the time. The company said it had initiated an internal review and was cooperating fully with authorities. It also announced immediate financial assistance to victims’ families and said it would bear the full medical expenses of the injured.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed condolences to the families of the victims and announced ₹2 lakh ex-gratia from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) for each deceased and ₹50,000 for the injured .

In a post on X, the Chief Minister’s Office said the Maharashtra government would provide ₹5 lakh compensation to the next of kin of those who died in the blast. The company will also extend additional financial assistance to the affected families.

“We are deeply saddened by the tragic incident and extend our heartfelt condolences to the families of those who lost their lives,” the company said, adding that corrective and preventive measures would be implemented after the investigation.

The incident comes a day after a blast at a firecracker unit in Andhra Pradesh’s Kakinada district killed 21 people, raising serious concerns over safety standards in explosives and fireworks manufacturing units across the country.