A mother’s cry amid rubble of Nagpur explosives factory blast: 'I am shattered'

Nagpur, Mar 1 (PTI) For Kanta Chachane, Sunday began like any other workday at an explosives factory in Nagpur, but within hours, her world collapsed when a powerful blast claimed the life of her daughter, who was working in a different unit on the premises.

Chachane is shocked and struggling to come to terms with the reality that her daughter, 26-year-old Mangeshri Yeskar, is no more.

She recalled hearing a huge explosion around 7 am, followed by continuous blasts for nearly an hour and a half. Workers rushed out of the unit as injured persons were carried to hospitals.

"I am shattered," the 42-year-old woman told PTI, her grief echoing the anguish of families torn apart by the tragedy.

At least 18 people were killed, most of them women, and 24 others were injured in a powerful blast at the SBL Energy Limited factory, a mining and industrial explosives manufacturer, at Raulgaon in Katol tehsil of Nagpur district on Sunday morning.

The bodies were charred beyond recognition, and samples of the family members were being taken for DNA testing to ascertain the identities of the deceased, according to police.

Chachane's daughter Mangeshri, separated from her husband and raising a teenage daughter and a young son, had been working at the factory for the past year. That morning, she and her mother had arrived together.

While Chachane was in a nearby unit, Mangeshri was inside the blast-hit section and was later declared dead.

Chachane now faces the painful process of DNA identification to claim her daughter’s body.

A wave of grief swept through Raulgaon, Khedi, and Dhavlapur as most of the deceased women workers were from these very villages.

Among those who perished was 32-year-old Sunita Salame from Khedi.

She had been working at the factory for the past year, striving to support her family.

Her brother, Ishwar Masram, shared through tears that she leaves behind three young daughters and her husband.

"Her death has left the three girls orphaned,” he told PTI, describing a future that now feels uncertain and unbearably heavy for the children who have lost their mother.

Jyotsna Shendre, 30, also from Khedi, had been employed at the company for about a year.

With her sudden passing, her two daughters and son, Mahesh, have lost their mother’s protection forever, a relative said.

In neighbouring Dhavlapur, 31-year-old Pratibha Walke had been working at the factory for a year and a half.

On the day of the explosion, her husband Suresh was on duty in another unit of the same factory and survived. Now, the responsibility of raising their two children rests solely on his shoulders. PTI CLS GK NSK