Three more bodies have been found from the charred central ammunition depot in Pulgaon, Wardha, on Wednesday. Officials suspect two of the deceased to be army men and the third a civilian.
Three more bodies have been found from the charred central ammunition depot in Pulgaon, Wardha, on Wednesday. Officials suspect two of the deceased to be army men and the third a civilian. Nineteen people were killed, including four army officials, and several others injured after a major fire broke out at the army depot on Tuesday morning. Seventeen defence security corp (DSC) jawans were injured in the blaze and some of them were critical, said an army officer. Two army officers who were grievously injured were transferred from Nagpur hospital to Pune defence hospital on Wednesday morning, and were now said to be fine while treatment was still on.
Meanwhile, the collector of Wardha started visiting villages in the vicinity to ascertain the extent of damage caused, which in turn would determine the aid to be provided to the affected. Surveys were started in every village affected by the Tuesday explosion. Congress MLA from Wardha, Ranjeet Kamble, said, “After the blast, all villagers panicked and ran away from their houses. Only after the fire was brought under control did these people get back to their houses. The collector of Wardha started surveys in nearby villages to get details about affected homes and provide them aid.”
Mr Kamble said that life in the villages was slowly coming back to normal. “Four teams from the collector’s office spread out across the first three villages (Agargaon, Pipari and Nagjhari) that were evacuated after the blast and helped restore normalcy there. Most people’s houses have developed huge cracks as a result of the explosion and soon, they will get help from the government,” he said.
Finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, education minister Vinod Tawde, minister of public health and family welfare Deepak Sawant, and water resources minister Girish Mahajan visited the affected areas and met people there. Mr Mungantiwar declared '5 lakh from the government to the family of each of the deceased and '1 lakh to the family of each of the injured. “We have given orders to the collector to provide every necessary help to the people who are living here and the injured patients,” said Mr Mungantiwar.
Mr Sawant said, “There is an air ambulance available at the disaster site if required by anyone during emergency. Also, if necessary, for the injured to be shifted to Mumbai-based hospitals, we have made the arrangements.”
