I am shattered: Woman mourns daughter’s death in Nagpur factory blast

Nagpur: 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 at a unit there claimed the life of her daughter.

Chachane, employed in a different unit of the factory on the same campus, 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 17 persons were killed and 18 others 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.

“I am shattered,” the distraught mother said.

Now, she faces the painful process of DNA identification to claim her daughter’s body.