Mangalore: At the Mangalore Refineries (MRPL) factory on Saturday, on explosion has ripped through a sulphur plant causing severe burns to five and killing a worker too, identified as Nagesh(25)  from Kulai.

The 5 injured were taken to KMC hospital in city, and one of them, Bashir, is in critical condition.

The other four are Sirajuddin(23) from Katipalla, Ashwith(23), Srinivas(33) and Mahesh K.(24).

The MRPL underplayed the incident by calling it only a mild explosion(in a release issued soon after), that took place around 11-15AM(Morning) in unit no.2, injuring six(including the deceased).

Four of the workers were employed by Entech Constructions, and only one from Sri Ganesh Constructions, but Mahesh was an employee of MRPL, the official statement informed.

A Committee constituted by management has started enquiry, The freak incident has tainted the safety record of which MRPL is said to be proud. Safety measures would be tightened to prevent further chilling incidents such as the one on Saturday, MRPL reported.