A boiler at Amudan Chemicals, located in Phase 2 of Dombivli MIDC area, exploded around 1:40 pm, the impact and resultant blaze of which affected the adjacent factories and houses.

CCTV visuals from several different locations at the time of the explosion have emerged as the blast was heard even from a kilometre away. The footage has also been confirmed by the police, ANI said.

The visuals show several objects flying, broken shelters and people running away as soon as the boiler explodes. One such was from inside a shop, where a couple of men were sitting. As soon as the incident took place, a strong force of air filled their shop, leading to some damages.

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Glass windows of adjoining buildings were cracked and damaged in the vicinity, officials said.

Thick clouds of smoke were seen hovering over the chemical factory, which produced food colours and used highly reactive peroxides and unstable chemicals that can cause violent explosions under certain conditions, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) said.

Thane Municipal Corporation's chief of disaster management, Yasin Tadvi, said, "Six men and two women were killed in the incident but their bodies were charred beyond recognition."

Amit Khanvilkar, husband of one of the factory works -- Riddhi -- was called to identify his wife at the Shastri Nagar Hospital in Thane. Maintaining his composure to look at the bodies charred beyond recognition, Amit identified his wife from her gold ring.

The state Industries and Labour Department issued a statement saying the boiler in the factory was not registered under the India Boiler Regulations, 1950.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde reacted to the "horrible" incident and had said some more people were feared trapped in the factories around the chemical factory. "Our priority is to rescue those people," he said from the factory site.

The government has taken a serious note of the incident and has decided to categorise the industries as A, B and C in terms of the hazards they pose.

"All most hazardous industrial units falling under the red category will be immediately shut across the state. Such units will be given an option to shift to another location or change the usage (category) like engineering and IT...There will be no compromise on the lives of people," Shinde said.

The CM also announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh each for the kin of the deceased, adding that the expenses of those injured will be borne by the government.

Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis extended condolences to the deceased and said that the injured persons are being treated at AIMS, Neptune and Global hospitals and that "every kind of assistance is being provided".

(With agency inputs)