Factory Explosion in Kikinda Sends Worker to Novi Sad

A minor explosion at a factory in Kikinda injured two workers, aged 41 and 48, on Saturday, according to unofficial reports. The accident happened during the first shift, on the grounds of the Le Belier factory. Unofficial accounts point to a machine on the production floor as the cause. No official confirmation of the cause has been released so far, and more details are expected once the on-site investigation is complete.

An ambulance crew treated the injured men first, at the scene. From there, they were taken to Kikinda General Hospital, where doctors began working out a diagnosis.

The response unfolded in this order:

• an ambulance crew responded inside the factory grounds and administered first aid
• both injured workers were taken to Kikinda’s general hospital
• the worker with the eye injury was referred for further treatment to the University Clinical Center of Vojvodina in Novi Sad

The second worker suffered a cut to the hand. Kikinda’s hospital said neither man’s life was in danger. According to unofficial reports, both are conscious and able to communicate. No health institution has publicly disclosed details on how serious the eye injury is.

What the Interior Ministry Confirmed

The Interior Ministry confirmed the same day that two workers were injured at a factory in Kikinda and were treated at the city’s general hospital. Police went to the scene and carried out an on-site investigation. The competent basic public prosecutor’s office was notified of the incident.

An investigation of this kind covers the machine itself, the condition of the plant at the time, and the working conditions in place when the accident occurred. Only after that does the prosecutor’s office decide whether to order an expert assessment and whether there are grounds for further action.

Who Are the Injured Workers?

Le Belier stated that the injured men are not its employees. According to the company, they work for a different firm that was carrying out work on the factory grounds.

That distinction is not an administrative technicality. It determines who was responsible, at the moment of the accident, for ensuring workplace safety measures were in place. An employer that sends its workers into another company’s plant must train them to work safely and equip them with protective gear. The plant’s owner is responsible for the machines being in working order and for the safety of the space it allows them into. The disputed point, as a rule, is where those two obligations meet, in other words who supervised the specific task and who authorized work on the machine.

That is why, in proceedings following workplace injuries, investigators first obtain the contract for the work being performed, records of safety training, and the report from the machine’s last inspection.

What Comes Next After the Investigation

Under regulations, a workplace injury is also reported to the labor inspectorate. An inspector determines whether protective measures were in place and whether the equipment was sound. In parallel, the prosecutor’s office assesses whether the incident contains elements of the criminal offense of failing to take workplace safety measures.

Until those checks are complete, no one has been charged, and responsibility has not been established. The expert findings on the machine’s condition are usually the piece of evidence such proceedings turn on.

Transferring one worker from Kikinda to Novi Sad says something about the nature of the injury. An eye injury requires care that a general hospital does not provide, so the patient is referred to a higher level institution. For residents of northern Banat, that means the clinical center in Novi Sad.

We had not previously reported on this event. The next step expected is an official statement from Kikinda’s basic public prosecutor’s office on whether a case is being opened, along with the labor inspectorate’s findings on conditions at the plant where the workers were engaged.