According to fire brigade officials, the fire at Tekson Co started when a worker in the canteen, unaware of the gas leak, attempted to light the stove. ``A ball of fire enveloped the place suddenly as we all ran out,'' pointed out G Bharat (28), a worker who escaped with minor burns. While two of the injured, Sachin Pawar and Anil Patil are reported to be in a critical condition at Kamgar Hospital, Wagle Estate, Vasant Chandra, Rajkumar Raina, Santosh Pawar, Sridhar Rai and Subhash Lanjekar are undergoing treatment for burns.

However, fire brigade officials said a potential explosion had been averted because the leakage was only for a small duration. According to Bharat, a kerosene stove and two cans of kerosene, which had been kept in the canteen, were moved out for a clean-up half-an-hour before thefire erupted. ``If that would have been left inside, the fire would have been serious because there is only one exit to the cramped narrow canteen and no windows.''

However, the fire at D N Dyestuff Ltd, MIDC Phase I, Dombivli, first reported at 11.00 am, was doused only after three fire engines from KDMC and one each from Ulhasnangar Municipal Corporation and Ambernath Municipal Council battled for over six hours. The chemical dye unit's godown was gutted. Fire officials have not been able to establish the cause of the fire. No loss of life has been reported. Meanwhile, the owner of the unit Ravi S Bhandari has claimed losses amounting to Rs 7 crore. Fifteen persons had died when a blaze engulfed the Lake View Hotel at Talao Pali, Thane, in September 1998. A drive had then been launched by Thane Municipal Corporation to find out whether all the hotels and food joints adhered to fire safety norms.