VISHAKHAPATNAM: Four persons died on the spot and another received serious burn injuries when an explosion followed by fire engulfed the unit 3 of Laurus Laboratory in JN Pharma City on Monday evening.
This comes under Anakapalli district and about 4km from Visakhapatnam.
The dead were Rambabu Bingi (32) of Khammam, Rajesh Babu Talasila (36) of Guntur, Ramakrishna Rapeti (30) of K Kotapadu of Anakapalli district and Majji Venkata Rao (28) of Chodavaram Anakapalli district.
Y Satish of Ranagareddy district, who was seriously injured, has been admitted to a corporate hospital here.
“We have received four bodies from Pharma City,’’ confirmed superintendent of King George Hospital Dr P Mythili.
Deputy inspector factories, V Suresh, said the fire was caused by the leakage of toluene solvent. When the workers were trying to arrest the leakage of toluene, the chemical caught fire.
Anakapalle police chief, Gowthami Sali, confirmed the fire accident. Police, revenue and factories department officials are yet to declare the number of deaths.
Some leaders said the management of vaious pharma firms at JNPC have been ignoring the safety norms whereas the officials of the various departments have been accepting kickbacks to remain silent.
