Couples, brothers, and young workers among victims of Pashamylaram factory explosion
Hyderabad: The impact of the explosion at the pharma factory at Pashamylaram was so massive that it pulled down a three-storeyed building. But along with the building that housed the dryer unit, the flames consumed the dreams of 143 families, who were working on the factory floor on the fateful day.
One such sad story relates to Nikhil Kumar Reddy from Kadapa and Ramya from Vijayawada. They both got married recently and wanted to start their pharma unit to build on their vast experience in the pharmaceutical industry. But their dreams went up in flames when the couple was charred to death in the blast that took place at the Sigachi factory.
The bodies were handed over to the family members of Nikhil Kumar Reddy.
"I tried to convince Nikhil to join my own company as the head of one of the units. But the couple decided to continue working at Sigachi. If Nikhil had agreed to my offer, he would have survived the fateful day," said Obul Reddy, a close friend of Nikhil Reddy.
Similar incidents were seen at the government hospital's mortuary at Patancheru on Wednesday. While family members were busy searching names with the control room staff at the mortuary to get the details of missing persons, some family members approached the staff to give samples for DNA tests.
Before leaving for the Sigachi factory, deputy general manager M. Praveen Kumar told his wife Padmavathi that he would come early from the office to spend time with the children.
"When the incident took place, my cousin Ramya Peddinti called me to inquire about my husband’s work hours. I told her he left for the office in the morning on Monday. When we came to know about the mishap, we called his mobile number, but it was switched off. On Wednesday, his body was identified in the DNA test," Padmavathi said.
Ramya Peddinti, a cousin of Praveen Kumar, said that they went to the Sigachi company on Monday but the police did not allow them to go inside. They came to the mortuary after some of the bodies were shifted to the government hospital. "Three days after the mishap, we received his body, and there was no proper response from the Sigachi company management," Ramya said.
In another incident, two brothers, Akhilesh Kumar and Vijay Kumar, who were working for Sigachi for the past 12 years, went missing and are yet to be located or identified. The officials informed family members residing in Uttar Pradesh. The victim’s relative, Abhishek Kumar, came to the mortuary to submit his samples for DNA tests for identification of the bodies.
Abhishek Kumar said that he gave his samples for the DNA identification and is waiting for reports. Some bodies are preserved in mortuaries, and based on DNA reports, the officials said they would hand over the bodies.
