Excelsior Correspondent
UDHAMPUR, Dec 1: Three workers of a construction company, engaged in a road widening project were killed in an accidental blast in Pancheri area, about 110 kms from Udhampur this morning.
The blast took place when the victims were disposing off waste material by putting the same on fire and due to their negligence some explosives also got mixed in the scrap, said SSP Udhampur Anil Magotra.
The blast was so powerful that one person, namely Sukhraj Singh (43), son of Lakhvinder Singh of Sadda Singhwala in Mansa, Punjab died on the spot while two others sustained critical injuries.
The injured, identified as Janak Singh (50) son of Karam Chand, resident of 193-C Raya, Ward number 2, Baba Bakala, Amritsar and Suresh Kumar alias Manu (19), son of Panjar Udhampur, succumbed to their injuries while being shifted to hospital by the Police.
The deceased were engaged with the Ishwar Infrastructure Ltd for road widening and construction work under Prime Minister Grameen Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) in Ladda area of Pancheri in the Udhampur district. While deceased Sukhraj Singh was Senior Supervisor, Janak Singh and Suresh Kumar were working as supervisor and JCB Helper, respectively.
According to the reports, the trio was binding the construction material and had burnt fire on the roadside to keep themselves warm from intense cold. They were using waste material and some wooden blocks to keep the fire burning. In the process, they picked up an apparently empty box, which was lying aside and threw it in the fire. However, the box was probably containing some detonator and few gelatin sticks, which exploded with a big bang resulting into the tragic incident and death of three persons. Two other workers who were at a slight distance, received minor injuries and were treated at PHC Pancheri and discharged thereafter.
Primary investigations by police have ruled out any possibility of sabotage and the matter was being investigated as an accidental incident due to negligence of the deceased.
Explosive detonators and gelatin sticks are used by the construction companies in the road widening works and negligence of workers apparently led to the blast incident, said Police.
Receiving the information about the blast, SHO Pancheri, Harmohinder Singh rushed to the spot and launched rescue operation as directed by the SSP Udhampur Anil Magotra. Though the two seriously injured workers were evacuated from the incident site, they succumbed to their injuries on way to nearby hospital.
Meanwhile, a case FIR number 51/2013 under Section 304A/286 RPC was registered at Police Station Pancheri for further investigations.
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