The death toll has risen to three from an explosion and fire at a large Jindal Poly Films Ltd. plant in India, with local media reports saying an additional body was recovered from the rubble Jan. 4.
The Jan. 1 incident happened at a plant making both biaxially oriented PET and biaxially oriented polypropylene films in Nashik, about 100 miles northeast of Mumbai. The facility is regarded as the world's single largest for making the two films.
The company, reportedly the world's eighth-largest maker of BOPET film, said in an interview and in a stock filing that the cause of the blaze is still being investigated.
"We are still looking at the reasons of the fire," said a company executive, who spoke on the condition of not being named. "The fire broke out at the chemical plant which produces resins for the film. The plant would commence operation in the next one or two days."
The executive said the incident would not impact production: "There is absolutely no impact on the film production as well as dispatches. All are moving on as per schedule."
"The fire is now under control," the executive said. "As various government agencies are involved in investigating the reasons of the blast, it may not be right to comment further."
The New Delhi-headquartered company expanded BOPP film capacity to 685 million pounds a year in 2020, while its BOPET capacity stands at 265 million pounds.
Local media quoted police as saying the fire started in a blast in a boiler. The facility houses several boilers used for making the films.
In a Jan. 2 filing to the BSE Ltd. stock exchange in Mumbai, the company said the fire started at 11:30 a.m. The factory complex spreads over 100 acres and employs 1,200.
"Fire was controlled, but production operation at part of the said plant is disturbed temporarily," the company told the BSE. "The cause of fire will be assessed in due course and the company is also in the process of ascertaining the actual loss caused by said accident."
Media reports said the blast was so strong that it was heard in nearby villages, with fire and smoke visible from a distance. About 20 fire tenders were used in controlling the blaze.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde visited the accident site and later also met the injured persons admitted to hospitals.
The state government will give 500,000 Indian rupees ($6,100) to the families of the deceased as well as free medical treatment to the injured. At least 17 people were reportedly injured.
Jindal Poly Films is a part of the $2 billion B.C. Jindal Group, which is involved in diverse businesses including power generation and manufacturing cold rolled steel strips and galvanized sheets.
The company has sizable production assets in the U.S.
Its Jindal Films Americas LLC subsidiary ranked as the 14th largest maker of plastic film and sheet in North America in the 2022 Plastics News sales ranking, with estimated sales of $675 million in 2021. It has manufacturing plants in Georgia and Oklahoma.