Odisha Tragedy: Massive Explosion At Illegal Stone Quarry In Dhenkanal Sparks Panic, Several Feared Dead In Midnight Blast

An enormous blast took place at a stone quarry in the Dhenkanal district of Odisha, claiming a large number of lives of laborers and partially burying some under the stones.

The event happened on Saturday night close to the village of Gopalpur, which is under the administration of the Motanga police, and the workers, who were doing drilling and exploration at the time, were present. The blast’s strength was so great that it released an enormous amount of rock, and the place that was already mined was totally hashed up with stones and dust.

The following day, the magnitude of the disaster struck everyone, and the emergency units of the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) and local fire services were already utilizing their resources in a bid to find people alive.

Illegal Blasting and Regulatory Failure

The incident took place at a quarry where safety rules and regulations were allegedly being flouted outright. State papers indicated that the district mining office had already issued a formal closure notice to the property owner in September 2025, citing lack of the necessary clearance for blasting as the reason.

Despite the fact that the lease would expire in December 2025, the quarry was still operating clandestinely during the night this was a very serious case of neglect of local supervision. 

The situation of “ghost mining” meant that there was no safety equipment and almost no emergency procedures practiced, so the workers were left exposed when the firecrackers that were unauthorized were set off.

Intensive Rescue and Recovery Operations

The recovery mission at the site has been nothing less than difficult. At first, the thick dust as well as the instability of the remaining rock face made the work even more difficult.

The first two bodies found in the rubble are already identified as coming from the Balasore and Mayurbhanj districts. Dhenkanal Collector Ashish Ishwar Patil along with senior police officials are present at the site, cooperating with dog squads from Angul and employing heavy JCB machines to move huge boulders.

Although the exact number of workers who were there at the time of the blast is not known yet, the authorities are expecting that the death toll will increase as they proceed to clear deeper parts of the collapsed pit.

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