One dead after massive blaze at Santej chemical factory, ₹80 cr preliminary losses

A day after a massive fire engulfed a chemical manufacturing unit in the Santej industrial area near Ahmedabad, authorities on Saturday recovered the body of one person from the factory premises, while preliminary estimates pegged the overall losses at nearly ₹80 crore.

The fire had broken out on Friday evening at Faith Industrial Limited, located in the Santej industrial belt, and rapidly escalated due to the presence of highly inflammable raw materials used in the chemical and plastic manufacturing process.

Officials said the blaze spread swiftly across the unit and later extended to the adjoining Techno Instrument factory, causing extensive damage in the surrounding industrial area and triggering panic among workers and nearby units.

According to the Fire Department, the control room received an emergency call regarding the blaze at around 5.08 pm on May 22. Fire stations at Thaltej and Chandkheda were immediately alerted, and the first fire tender was dispatched to the spot within minutes.

Given the intensity of the blaze, authorities launched a large-scale firefighting and rescue operation. A total of 15 fire vehicles and 98 personnel were deployed to contain the fire.

The operation involved six 20-kilolitre water bowsers, one emergency medical transport vehicle and eight first responder Bolero vehicles. The firefighting team comprised 64 firemen, six jamadars, 20 drivers, three sub-officers, three station officers, one divisional fire officer and an additional chief fire officer.

Fire officials said the blaze has now been brought completely under control after several hours of continuous operations.

However, amid the aftermath of the incident, a body was discovered inside the factory premises at around 7 am on Saturday. The deceased has not yet been officially identified. The body was later handed over to the local police for further investigation and post-mortem procedures.

Authorities said no other injuries were reported in the incident.

The exact cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained, though officials are expected to conduct a detailed forensic and technical investigation into the incident.