Bihar: Eight Dead and 16 Injured in Brick Kiln Explosion

Patna: In a shocking incident, dozens of labourers along with the owner in Bihar’s East Champaran, were busy in a celebration after lighting a brick kiln to mark the start of the new season of work for them when the chimney exploded. The Accident claimed at least eight lives and 16 were injured.

This happened on the evening of December 23 at Champapur Narirgir under Ramgarhwa police station. The death toll is likely to increase as three or four injured labourers are critically battling for life at the hospital.

According to the local police station officer in charge Indrajeet Paswan, the victims were identified as seven labourers and one owner of a brick kiln Mohd Irshad. All the injured were admitted to different hospitals.

“We were celebrating the first lighting of a brick kiln this season, and all of us were happy. But an hour after lighting, suddenly the upper part of the chimney started exploding and our celebration was turned into grief and sorrow. We never expected and ever imagined this,” Parma Shah, one of the 30 to 40 labourers present at the brick kiln when the chimney exploded, told NewsClick.

Shah recalled that he and several others were lucky as they sustained little or no injury. “All of us were cheerful after looking at smoke coming out from the chimney; however, it did not last long as a loud sound of an explosion from the chimney ended everything,” he added.

Paswan told NewsClick that though an investigation is underway into this incident, prima facie it appears that debris from the exploded chimney fell on labourers standing near the chimney that claimed their lives.

A team from the state disaster response force on Saturday morning started a rescue operation after the fog subsided. Last late night, the rescue operation was halted due to fog and cold weather. The rescue operation is likely to end speculation of more bodies under the debris of the chimney explosion.

A district administrative official told NewsClick on condition of anonymity that intense pressure build-up within the chimney following lighting may have caused the explosion. “This is a matter of a probe. We suspect that the owner of the brick kiln was using wood as fuel in place of coal for lighting which led to the explosion. As coal has become costly and wood is still cheap, its use created pressure of smoke that resulted in the explosion,” he told NewsClick.

East Champaran’s District Magistrate (DM) S K Ashok told NewsClick that a probe was ordered into the cause behind the incident. The government department of mining and pollution control board monitors all brick kilns. “We will enquire into the condition of the chimney and how old was it and who has given permission to run the brick kiln,” the DM said.