Jamshedpur: unstable gas mixture caused Tata Steel explosion, says official

Jamshedpur: Unstable mixture of gases seems to have caused the explosion in the Tata Steel premises which injured eleven persons including the company employees, an official said today.

"The incident did not cause because of short circuit or any fault in the gas holder. Prima facie, it seemed that the explosion had taken place due to the possibility of unstable mixture in certain proportion of the gas or air which resulted in auto ignition," Jharkhand Labour Commissioner Puja Singhal said after visiting the explosion site.

The mixture of gas or air in the proportion of between 9 to 33 per cent in the gas holder might have led to such an explosion, she said.

"An investigation has been on and a detail report would be prepared in three days. We did not find any negligence but the safety norms were not foolproof," Ms Singhal said.

She said that all the inlets and outlets as well as the gas pipeline near the site of explosion have been sealed and the area was sanitised as a precautionary measure.

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The gas was now being burnt out to start a thorough investigation and the production in the LD-2 was stopped, she said.

The production in the unit will not be allowed unless we are totally satisfied with the safety drill before granting permission, Ms Singhal said, adding that all the big industrial units of Jharkhand including steel plant of SAIL in Bokaro would be inspected soon.

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She also met the injured in Tata Main Hospital (TMH) and said that arrangements were being made by Tata Steel to airlift the critically injured employee to Vedanta hospital for better treatment today.