Feb. 9: A loud explosion at a chemicals unit on Monday night triggered fears of largescale damage and sent emergency services, and the media, into a frenzy. It turned out later that two persons were injured in the explosion at SM Labs Pvt Ltd, a drug intermediates manufacturing company at Moula Ali.
The Alwal DCP, Mr Sudheer Reddy, said there were no deaths. The blast was attributed to a petrochemical-based solvent used in manufacturing medicines. The shockwaves from the blast was felt even 10 km away. Smoke engulfed the area, window panes of many buildings developed cracks and some buildings in the vicinity shook. “I could not breathe properly,” said Mr Jitender Red-dy, a local.
Five fire engines and three water tenders battled the blaze for three hours to bring the fire under control. Eight ambulances were rushed to the site.
According to a witness, Mr Mohammed Ismail, there was a huge explosion at 9 pm. “We rushed into the factory and brought two injured. As there was fire and smoke nothing could be seen,” he added.
The factory which manufactures anti-depressant drugs to Dr Reddy Labs and Cipla, is owned by Mr Manik Reddy. It makes intermediary drugs used in manufacturing 5-cyanophthalide. The fire occurred in the storage tank. Mr Manik Reddy said eight persons were working when the accident occurred and two were injured: Sravan Kumar (26) and Niranjan (27).
Mr Niranjan who was admitted to Poulami Hospital said they ran outside after the blast. “A big stone like missile hit me on my stomach. I fell unconscious after that,” he said.
Thousands of locals thro-nged the spot and police had to cordon off the area.
Locals said they had alerted the factory management about an “unbearable, pungent, chemical odour” on Sunday. The IDA canteen proprietor, Mr P. Praveen, said, “Gas was leaking for a few days.” According to sources, the ACB had arrested an inspector of boilers two years ago on charge of accepting Rs 75,000 as bribe for renewing licences for three boilers at SM Laboratories.
No comments:
Post a Comment