Sans safety, over 1,000 deathtraps in Sowcarpet’s goldsmith hub

Chennai: The blast at a goldsmith unit, triggered by a hand-held gas torch, leaving one dead and six injured on Wednesday, has blown the lid off the bustling, but hazardous jewellery-making industry in Elephant Gate. Officials say more than 1,000 such units operate out of tiny 10ft by 20ft rooms, which are poorly ventilated and lack even basic safety measures.Wednesday's blast occurred after a gas leak went undetected by workers at a gold melting unit on the fourth floor of a building on Singannan Street.
While the unit owner, Suman alias Biswajit, 32, from Howrah in West Bengal, was killed, six of his employees suffered injuries. The condition of three of the injured persons is critical at Rajiv Gandhi Govt General Hospital. The roof of the building collapsed in the impact of the blast.The unit was located on the fourth floor of the building. Workers lived in one room, another room was used for cooking. The third room served as workspace where they melted gold to make jewellery using hand-held gadgets. This single building alone had 30 such tiny rooms where nearly 120 workers were accommodated.Gana Satish, a resident of Elephant Gate, said he saw the owner, Suman, running towards him with his head bleeding profusely. "He suffered burns and his skin was exposed. We rushed him to the hospital in an autorickshaw. He lifted his hand, pointing towards the building 100 metres away, asking us to save the workers," Satish said. Of the six injured, Aravind, 27, suffered 90% burns, Suraj, 23, had 76% burns, and Srimanta, 48, suffered 68% burns. Their condition is critical. Ananda Khetrapal, 36, suffered 19% burns, and Rakesh, 26, suffered 32% burns.An investigation officer said the workers could not detect the gas leaking from the LPG cylinder that engulfed the room, which was devoid of any ventilation. When one of the workers turned on a hand-held gas torch, it triggered the explosion.