The owner of a chemical plant in Pune district in India is arrested and charged with culpable homicide after a deadly fire at the company killed 17 workers, according to the Deccan Herald. Officials quoted in the article indicate that the June 8 fire at SVS Aqua Technologies may have been aggravated by sanitizers stored at the plant.
According to the article, police registered a case of “gross negligence” against one of the owners of the chemical company, Nikunj Shah. A preliminary probe reportedly shows that the company violated safety norms and building permissions, including a lack of emergency exit doors and open space for workers to take refuge from the fire, and no firefighting mechanism or equipment at the site. The Deccan Herald reports that a stock of sanitizers may have come into contact with a fire from combustible raw materials used to make chlorine dioxide, possibly leading to several large explosions.
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