At least seven workers were injured in an explosion at a scrap processing plant at Rangian village in Ludhiana Saturday.

Police said that a machine used for compressing scrap material exploded at Atharva Metals. The unit provides aluminium fabrication services by processing scrap. Seven workers were injured in the explosion of which two were stated to be in a critical condition.

The machine exploded around 6.30 am. “The factory functions round the clock. Our forensic ballistics team is working at the site to study the nature of the blast,” said Vaibhav Sehgal, ACP South, Ludhiana.

The injured were identified as Durgesh, Ravi Kumar, Ram Babu, Dalip Kumar, Daleep Gupta, Shivam and Ravi Dubey.

Durgesh and Ravi suffered severe injuries and were rushed to Dayanand Medical College and Hospital. According to factory worker Deepak Singh, the rooftop made up of iron sheets collapsed due to the explosion and some workers got injured.

Later, the police registered an FIR against Ravinder Kalia, owner of Atharva Metalcraft under Sections 336, 337, 338 of the Indian Penal Code and 3 and 5 of the Explosives Act at Dehlon police station, on the complaint of an injured worker who said that scrap was not checked properly before handing it over to workers for compressing, and it apparently had some explosive material.

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