A man died while another sustained burn injuries after a major fire broke out in the premises of a chemical unit at Industrial Focal Point in Dera Bassi on Friday morning.

Even as 16 other employees working in the unit managed to escape unhurt, the loss of machinery and goods at Alechem Private Limited has been estimated to be around Rs 1.5 crore.

The deceased has been identified as Sanjay Singh, a native of Uttarakhand. His colleague Balkar Singh, in his mid-30s, sustained burn injuries on the face and has been admitted in a local private hospital.

The body of the deceased was handed over to his family after a postmortem and inquest proceedings under Section 174 of CrPC were initiated, said Station House Officer (SHO) Samar Vineet Dhawan.

It was around 6 am that fire engulfed the drug inter-mediator installed on the first floor of the chemical plant, where 18 employees were on duty, said the unit’s general manager Sanjay Singh.

He added that while a drug was being prepared, some static charge developed in the chemical vessel caused a spark that led to the fire. It took nearly two hours for two fire tenders to douse the flames.

According to Fire Officer B S Sandhu, timely action by fire-fighters averted a major tragedy as they prevented six chemical reactors installed in the unit from bursting.