AP pharma company fire accident: Two more injured workers die

Visakhapatnam: The toll rose to three in the flash fire at a pharma company in Anakapalli district as two persons succumbed to burn injuries, an official said on Monday.

A chemist and three workers from Jharkhand sustained serious injuries in the accident on August 23 at Syngene Active Ingredients Pvt Ltd, located at Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City (JN Pharma City) in Parawada.

"Two more injured persons died. One person died yesterday night and another person died today (Monday) morning," Anakapalli Superintendent of Police M Deepika Patil told. The lone survivor, Oybon Khora (23) is in a critical condition, she said.

Lal Singh Poorthy (22) succumbed to the injuries on Sunday night and the chemist K Suryanarayana (35) died on Monday morning, she said.

Prior to the two deaths, Roy Angira (21), also from Jharkhand, died on Saturday.

The flash fire occurred around 12:30 am on August 23 when a chemical powder and a chemical liquid were being mixed without following standard operating procedures, generating fumes and static electricity igniting the blast.

Headquartered at Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad, Syngene Active Ingredients runs two units and Jaahnavee Life Sciences in JN Pharma City, employing around 600 people.

Prior to this, another pharma blast happened at Escientia Advanced Science Pvt Ltd, where 17 died, and 36 were injured.

After two pharma accidents at SEZ Atchutapuram in the same week, Andhra Pradesh chief minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu appealed to all the industries, especially those companies under Red category, to immediately take up internal safety audit.

Naidu has ordered a high-level inquiry into the incident, promising stringent action against the management if its negligence was found to have caused the tragic incident.

Inputs from PTI .