Anakapalle: 13 workers die, 33 injured in pharma reactor blast

Anakapalle: The death toll in the fire accident at a pharmaceutical unit rose to 13, after a reactor explosion happened at Escientia Pharmaceutical company at Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Atchutapuram in Anakapalle district on Wednesday.

The death toll may increase as the slab of the first floor of the pharma company has collapsed, and some of the workers got trapped in the debris.

Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu will visit Atchutapuram on Thursday, August 22, to inspect the site of the reactor blast at Escientia Pharmaceutical company. He will also meet with those injured, who are currently receiving treatment in hospitals.

In response to the incident, Naidu has instructed the Health Secretary to visit Atchutapuram immediately and directed the District Collector to ensure the injured receive the best possible care.

Anakapalle: Two workers die, 18 injured in pharma reactor blast #Anakapalle #Pharmareactorblast #workersdeath https://t.co/TM2n0AlvMD

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Anakapalli District Collector Vijaya Krishnan said the fire broke out at 2:15 pm at Escientia Advanced Sciences Pvt Ltd at Atchutapuram in Anakapalli district.

“The factory operates with 381 employees in two shifts. The blast occurred during lunch time. Therefore, staff presence was less, Krishnan told, adding that the explosion is suspected to be electricity-related.

As many as 33 injured people were shifted to different hospitals in Anakapalli and Atchutapuram while the Fire Department is engaged in rescue operations, deploying six fire tenders.

The officials of the Factories department along with officials of the Fire Service, Police and Revenue department will conduct a preliminary enquiry into the incident and will submit a report to the Anakapalle district collector. The police said that it may take few more hours to ascertain the death toll in the incident.

Escientia Advanced Sciences, which manufactures intermediate chemicals and active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) commenced production in April 2019 with an investment of Rs 200 crore. It is located in a 40-acre campus in the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation's (APIIC) multi-product special economic zone (SEZ) at Atchutapuram cluster.