India, April 12 -- At least five workers were charred to death, and 10 others sustained severe burn injuries after a fire broke out due to an explosion in an aluminium industry on Friday night in the Umred MIDC (Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation) area, around 60 kmfrom Nagpur, a senior police officer said.

Around ten firebrigades were used to douse the flames which took 15 to 16 hours. The explosion occurred in the polished tubing unit of the MMP Limited, where 87 workers were present at the time, superintendent of police (SP) Harsh Poddar said.

The explosion ignited a massive fire while workers were operating a machine used to polish aluminium foil with raw aluminium powder, the Nagpur district collector Vipin Itankar, who...