NEW DELHI, Jan 22: At least six people are feared killed in a massive explosion near a gravels and boulders crushing facility at a stone quarry near Honsodu village on the outskirts of Shivamogga town, about 300 kilometres from Bengaluru, in Karnataka on Thursday night.
Shivamogga is the home district of Karnataka chief minister B S Yediyurappa
The Shivamogga District Collector K.B. Shiva Kumar, however, has so far confirmed only two deaths. “Two bodies have been retrieved from the site. The reports suggesting death of more people is not substantiated by facts. The exact number would be known, once the technical team coming from Bengaluru visits the place and clears it,” he said.
According to the district collector, none of the workers of the quarry were at the site when the explosion took place. The deceased were believed to be the persons in the truck that brought the explosives to the quarry ruling out the possibility of high rate of casualty in the explosion.
Ashok Naik, Shivamogga Rural MLA, said gelatin sticks in a truck exploded. “The cause of the explosion is not known. Senior officers have reached the spot. We have to wait for some more time to get more information,” he said.
Following the incident, the quarry owner and a person who allegedly supplied dynamite to him were arrested by the police. “Preliminary investigation reveals a big quantity of dynamite exploded there citing some negligence by the quarry owner and the operators. The police have already arrested the quarry owner and the dynamite supplier. Further investigation is on,” Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai said.
The explosion was so huge and shook the nearby areas so strongly that the people in the neighbourhood initially mistook it for an earthquake making the people to rush out of their houses. However, the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre later clarified that there was no recorded seismic activity and the noises emanated from explosion in the stone quarry.
The incident happened in a licensed crushing unit, located in the safe zone. “The technical team would analyse the site and arrive at a conclusion on the material that exploded. Based on their assessment, we will proceed further,” the collector said.
The Chief Minister has ordered a high level investigation into the explosion and ordered the administration to take up rescue operations on a war footing.
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi too took to Twitter to condole the loss of lives in the accident.
“Pained by the loss of lives in Shivamogga. Condolences to the bereaved families. Praying that the injured recover soon. The State Government is providing all possible assistance to the affected,” he wrote.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the news of the blast was tragic and that it called for an in-depth investigation so that similar tragedies do not recur.
“The news of blast at stone mining quarry in Karnataka is tragic. Condolences to the families of the victims,” Mr. Gandhi tweeted.
Former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy said politically influential people, cutting across parties, were involved in illegal quarrying and there should be a systemic change. “Honest officers are threatened and not allowed to legally regulate them,” he said.
(Manas Dasgupta)