One dead, two injured in explosion in animal fat processing unit in Kochi

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 6 : One person was killed and two others injured in an explosion at an animal fat processing plant in Kerala's Kochi.

The incident occurred late on Saturday night at the Formal Trade Links LLP animal fat processing plant in the Edayar industrial sector.

The deceased is identified as Vikram Pradhan, a native of Odisha. The injured are Krishnan and Guru.

The incident occurred due to a mini boiler blast. Fire and Rescue personnel arrived at the scene and rescued the injured.

It is to be noted that Edayar industrial estate is home to several industrial units including chemical factories, polymer companies, packaging companies, pipe production companies and several others.

The Edayar Industrial estate in Ernakulam district of Kerala is a prestigious industrial hub of the state. There were, however, certain issues related to pollution in Edayar industrial estate with social activists and environmental activists charging some units of the estate -- specifically rubber and meat processing units -- to be emitting higher levels of Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) leading to bad odours from the industrial hub.

Environmental activist Ramesh Padamban had charged that while the normal limit of volatile organic compound is 0.25 ppm, some companies in Edayar industrial hub have it over 80 ppm.