Worker killed, 20 injured, 3 missing after fire in Surat chemical factory

A worker was killed, 20 others were injured and three went missing after a major fire broke out in a chemical factory in Gujarat's Surat city, officials said on Sunday.

The blaze erupted around 10.30 pm on Saturday in the Anupam Rasayan India Limited factory located in Sachin Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) area with a massive blast in a container storing hazardous chemicals, Surat in-charge Chief Fire Officer Basant Pareek said.

The fire soon spread across the factory in which one worker was charred to death, he said.

The body was recovered late night, Sachin GIDC police inspector DV Baldaniya said, adding that 20 workers were injured in the fire and they were undergoing treatment at different hospitals in the city.

Three other workers were missing, he said.

"We are searching the factory premises for the missing workers," the police official said.

Fifteen fire tenders were rushed to the spot and it took nearly two hours to bring the blaze under control, Pareek said.

"The charred body of a worker was found inside the factory after the fire was doused," he said.