Fireman Santosh Gavhalkar had sustained serious injuries in his head and spine while combating the fire at the Pulgaon ammunition depot.
Highlights
- Such leaks often take place in high temperatures, said Bachchan Singh
- He was part of the Quick Reaction Team deployed to tackle the incident
- He said the explosion happened 20 minutes after smoke was discovered
Were the massive explosions and fire at the Central Ammunition Depot in Pulgaon, which killed 19 people on Tuesday, triggered by the intense heat in Maharashtra's Vidarbha? That was the indication an eye-witness gave to NDTV, speaking from his hospital bed.
"The ammunition leak might have been triggered by the intense heat. There was a lot of smoke and it spread very quickly," said Sepoy Bachchan Singh -- one of the 17 injured men. "In high temperatures such leaks often take place," added Mr Singh, who has suffered wounds on his arms, legs and back.
Mr Singh was part of the Quick Reaction Team deployed to tackle the incident. The firefighting at the ammunition depot - India's largest and the second largest in Asia - had carried on for six long hours.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has said the exact cause of the fire can be known only after an inquiry. While there is "no sabotage as such" he said they are not, "ruling out any possibility".
Recounting the early hours, Mr Singh said the smoke was seen coming out from a shed, located "between post 24 and 25".
The alarm was raised and the fire brigade was called in. "They must have been trying to put out the fire out for about 20 minutes, when there was a huge blast," he recounted. "Those nearby died instantly".
The 38-year-old armyman said he had lost consciousness for a while. When he recovered, he saw fire everywhere. "Army vehicles had caught fire. The jungle, too, caught fire. Everywhere there was fire. It was scary."
In an adjacent room at the hospital in Wardha, lay fireman Santosh Gavhalkar, who had sustained serious injuries in his head and spine from the blast. "The blast was so big, we couldn't understand how to tackle it," he said.
A 2013 report by the Comptroller and the Auditor General had mentioned how "depots were functioning with risk of fire accident, as the fire-fighting equipment was not held as per requirement/authorization".
Mr Gavhalkar said the equipment was there, but "equipment cannot tackle such big explosion". There had been no time to cool the shed.