A contract worker was killed in a blaze while handling explosive material at the High Energy Material Research Laboratory (HEMRL) in the city’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) at Pashan. Police sources said that another worker suffered grievous injuries in the fire, which erupted on Tuesday.

The deceased has been identified as Laxmikant Sonawane (26), a resident of Pune’s Warje area and the injured as Yogesh Kirtikar.

According to officials at the Hinjewadi police station, the workers were taking samples of some explosive material when one such substance blew up, causing a blaze. Further investigations were on, said a senior police official.

HEMRL Director K.P.S. Murthy said that all safety measures were adhered to at the time the accident occurred.

“The deceased was a contract worker… A high-level DRDO committee will investigate the causes of the accident and come up with a report,” said Mr. Murthy.

The HEMRL, one of the premier research laboratories in the Pune DRDO establishment, sprawls across 800 acres in the city’s Pashan and Sutarwadi area and has played a vital role in the development of India’s missile systems.

Past incidents

In December 2015, three contractual workers were severely burnt in an explosion which led to a fire in the HEMRL’s Igniter Complex.

An explosion in 2009 took away the ceiling of one of the labs. No loss of life was reported at the time.

In a major mishap in 2002, six persons, including two lab technicians and four contract workers, lost their lives in an explosion in the facility’s Solid Rocket Propellant section.