Race against time: Rescue workers looking for survivors after at the explosion and fire at the pharmaceutical factory in Sangareddy. — AP
The death toll from a massive explosion and fire at a pharmaceutical factory in India’s southern state of Telangana has risen to at least 36 while about three dozen were left injured, authorities said.
The fire department recovered the charred bodies of 34 workers from the site of Monday’s accident in an industrial area about 50km from the state capital Hyderabad, the state’s fire services director GV Narayana Rao said yesterday.
Two other workers succumbed to burns and were pronounced dead in hospital, Rao said, adding that debris of the gutted pharmaceutical unit of Sigachi Industries was still being removed to find out if any more workers were trapped.
Nearly three dozen injured workers were admitted to hospitals, he said.
“The whole structure of the factory has collapsed. The fire has been doused, and we hope to finish removing the debris in the next few hours,” Rao said.
Sigachi Industries did not disclose what led to the explosion and fire, but said the plant’s core manufacturing infrastructure was damaged and facility operations would be halted for 90 days.
The plant produces microcrystalline cellulose, a chemical compound commonly used in making drugs, the company said.
The explosion and subsequent fire was reported on Monday in the factory’s spray dryer unit, which is used to process raw material into fine powder for making drugs, Rao said.
The state’s Health Minister Damodar Raja Narasimha said there were 108 workers inside the factory at the time of the explosion.
“As bodies were badly burnt and mutilated, a special medical team has been deployed to conduct DNA tests,” said Narasimha, adding that the state government has set up a panel to investigate the cause of the incident.
Witnesses said they heard the explosion from a couple of kilometres away from the site.
India is home to some of the world’s top pharmaceutical companies, playing a pivotal role in the global supply of generic medicines and vaccines.
Industrial accidents, particularly involving chemical reactors, aren’t uncommon in such factories, underlining the need for authorities to implement stringent safety protocols and regulatory oversight in a sector critical to public health. — AP
