17 charred to death in fire at industrial plant in India

At least 17 people, including 15 women, were charred to death in a major fire that broke out at a mid-size industrial plant at village Urawade in Pirangut, about 16km from Inida's Pune, on Monday afternoon.

All the victims were trapped inside the plant when the fire was caused by a blast in a machine, local revenue authorities said, reports the Times of India.

The fire occurred at the SVS Aqua Technologies plant, which is into manufacturing, supplying and exporting of air, water and surface treatment chemicals, systems and solutions. Senior police and revenue officials rushed to the site and at least three fire fighting tenders were deployed by the MIDC fire brigade.

The authorities had to break the walls on either end of the plant to gain access inside. However, by this time the blaze had engulfed all the trapped victims, who were mostly locals from the Mulshi taluka.