Modi forms probe team

Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday constituted a five-member experts' committee to probe the explosion in the GNFC plant that left six dead and 31 injured on Tuesday night.

Modi, during his visit to the site, instructed senior GNFC officials to include two experts of the Indian Petro Chemicals Ltd (IPCL) and Gujarat State Fertiliser Corporation (GSFC) in the committee, the company's executive director P B Nanavati said. GNFC general manager (technical) M M Bhatt will head the committee.

Modi also visited the hospital where several injured persons are being treated.

Modi also urged GNFC officials to ensure that the affected plant is back in stream at the earliest.

The nitrophosphate complex, which has four divisions, manufactures weak nitric acid, concentrated nitric acid, ammonium nitrophosphate and calcium ammonium nitrate. All these plants have been shut down.

While four workers died on the spot, two succumbed to injuries in the hospital.

Those killed in the blast have been identified as U R Joglekar, Nilesh V Patel, Gambhirsingh M Makwana, Raman Vasava and Soma Vasava.

While Joglekar, Patel and Makwana were employees of GNFC, Raman Vasava and Soma Vasava were contract labourers.

The blast at the nitrogen-phosphorus-ammonia plant sparked off a fire in one of the boilers which led to the plants' collapse, official sources said.

A GNFC official said apart from the nitrophosphate complex which has been shut down, the other units are functional and operating, though they have been shut down temporarily.

The ammonia, urea, methanol, formic acid and acetic acid plants are functional, official sources stated.