Fire in chemical dump yard at Diva; none hurt

A fire broke out in a chemical dump yard in Diva here triggering panic among residents in ten villages in the region, who ran out of their homes complaining of eye irritation, nausea and giddiness after the incident, civic officials said today.
However, there were no casualties in the incident which took place last night. Those affected were treated at various hospitals and allowed to go home thereafter, Santosh Kadam, Chief of Regional Disaster Management Control Room (RDMC) in Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) told PTI.
The matter came to light around 10 PM when a large plume of thick smoke accompanied with foul odour filled the air in and around ten villages in Diva blocking visibility in the entire region, the TMC officer said.

The visibility in the region was so low that police had to block traffic on either side of Diva.
According to Kadam, as many as 50 drums of chemicals, some of them containing inflammable material in nature, were found at the dump site in Diva, which may have caused the explosion.
Fire-fighting operations by RDMC are still on, he said adding that TMC authorities will lodge a complaint with local police against those who disposed the chemical drums in the yard.
Meanwhile, frightened inhabitants from ten villages in and around Diva, who fled in the midnight returned home this morning even as they continued to complain about health complications due to the fire.

Police PRO Gajanan Kabdule said that senior police officials including the Senior PI Mumbra Ravindra Tayde, DCP Sachin Patil, and Addl CP Pratapsingh Patankar are still at the site and are guiding the probe.