Andhra Pradesh: Toll rises to three in Parwada pharma unit fire accident

Four workers of Synergene Active Ingredients Private Limited were injured in the flash fire when they were mixing chemicals on August 23

Visakhapatnam: The death toll in last week’s industrial accident at a pharmaceutical unit at Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City in Parwada, near here rose to three with another injured succumbing on Monday.

Four workers of Synergene Active Ingredients Private Limited were injured in the flash fire when they were mixing chemicals on August 23. K Suryanarayana, a chemist from Vizianagaram district, succumbed to his injuries at Indus Hospital in Visakhapatnam on Monday morning.

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His body was shifted to King George Hospital for autopsy. Lalsingh Puri of Jharkhand had succumbed on August 24. The next day Roya Angira, who was also from Jharkhand, breathed his last. Oybon Korha, also from Jharkhand, is currently undergoing treatment.

The flash fire occurred in the early hours of August 23 at Synergene Active Ingredients Pvt Ltd (Unit-III) while charging chemical losartan potassium in the reactor, which was pre-charged with methanol. The workers had suffered 60 per cent burns and all were shifted to a hospital in Visakhapatnam.

Home Minister V Anitha, who visited the hospital the same day, stated that the management was negligent in taking safety measures in the unit and did not provide proper safety gear to the workers handling inflammable chemicals.

This accident occurred just two days after the reactor blast at a pharma unit at Atchutapuram Special Economic Zone (SEZ), which claimed 17 lives and left 36 others injured. The reactor blast caused a huge fire at Escientia Advanced Sciences Private Limited on August 21.

Following the accident, the State government had warned the management of industries to take stringent safety measures. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who visited the accident site on August 22, said safety should be the top priority of the management. Naidu said since 2019, the combined Visakhapatnam district reported 119 industrial accidents in which 120 people died.