Gudivada Amarnath, Minister for Industries, Commerce, and Information Technology, revealed on Friday that 2 people died and several others were injured after a fire broke out in a private pharmaceutical lab in the Atchutapuram Industrial Special Economic Zone in Visakhapatnam’s Anakapalli locality.
Earlier, around 11:10 a.m., in a pharmaceutical lab, while loading a solvent into a container, a short circuit occurred and the solvent exploded. Meanwhile, Minister Amarnath paid a visit to those injured in the pharma accident at KGH.
“The state government has announced Rs 25 lakh ex-gratia for deceased family members,’ he said.
He further said, “The accident occurred during solvent recovery at Sahitya Pharma Industry in Achuthapuram. 35 workers were working in the industry at the time of the accident. Seven people were injured in this accident and two people died in this accident.”
The operation is still ongoing because the fire at the lab has not been extinguished, and the matter will be investigated, he added.
According to Superintendent of Police Anakapalli Murali Krishna, the fire was caused by a sudden reactor blast. Lakshman Rao, District Fire Officer, stated that eight fire tenders rushed to the scene and four more are on their way.