Jharsuguda: Death toll in the fire at MSP Metallics Ltd at Gudipatha near here rose to six on Tuesday with the recovery of more bodies of workers and some injured succumbing to burns, police said. The toll, which stood at one last night, increased to six following recovery of two charred bodies from the factory and the  death of three critically injured workers admitted at a hospital. Five workers with critical burns have been admitted to Ispat General Hospital, Jharsuguda Superintendent of Police Kavita Jalan said adding cause of fire is being investigated.

Hospital sources said three of the injured were undergoing treatment for burning, while two of them were referred to  orthopaedic and surgery wings. The devastating inferno was so severe that even the fire brigade personnel managed to enter into the area with considerable difficulty, sources said.

Meanwhile, the workers blamed the factory authorities alleging that the persons burnt to death due to sheer negligence while the supervising authorities in the government are hardly doing anything to prevent such unfortunate incidents quite frequent in all the small and major units here.

Had the factory authorities not instructed workers to extinguish fire, the mishap could have been totally avoided, confided a staff and witness on the condition of anonymity, informing that the coal power in the PCI unit of the plant burnt like gas  after the blast in the unit and the senior staff pressed workers to wipe out fire instead of taking safety measures to save lives.