7 injured, 3 critical after fire breaks out at pharmaceutical company

HYDERABAD: In a major fire mishap at a pharmaceutical company in Jeedimetla, seven persons suffered burn injuries and six among them are said to be critical. The cause of the fire is suspected to be a chemical reactor blast. The fire broke out at Seutic Pharma Private Limited located at Gampal Basthi of Subash Nagar in Jeedimetla at around 6.30 am on Friday. Around 10 workers were present in the vicinity when the fire broke out all of the sudden in the company.At around 7 am, eight fire tenders rushed to the spot. Though some workers managed to get out, seven of them got stuck in the blazes and were rescued by the firefighters. Of them, six workers received critical burns. 

The victims were rushed to Harsha Hospital in Kompally in an ambulance and then were shifted to Apollo DRDL at Kanchanbagh for better treatment, where the doctors informed that six persons were critical. The injured are K Kumara Swamy (80 per cent burns), Bandi Srinivas (95% burns), K Simhachalam (91% burns), Shyam Chauran Behra (35%burns), Sanjeeth Kumar (70% burns) and Haran Kakhalary (65 per cent burns). Another worker, Narahari, who received mild burns is stated to be out of danger.

According to the Regional Fire Officer (Central Zone) V Papaiah, they received the call about the fire accident at 6.50 am and the fire tenders reached the spot within 10 minutes. Eight fire tenders from Secunderabad, Kukatpally, Sanathnagar, Shameerpet, Madhapur, Moulali and Cherlapally were pressed into action.

“Chemicals like bromine, hydrochloric acid, acetic acid, ethyl alcohol, methanol and benzine were present at the accident site, which gave rise to huge blazes. The fire also spread to the neighbouring Vijaya Sree Pharma. A water sump was not present in Seutic pharma but was present in another company. It took 90 minutes to douse the inferno, but the entire operation took around four hours,” said the official. The fire was seen for around 5 km from the accident spot. The officer said there was access to the spot from three sides, which helped in using a cooling machine in containing the fire.

“The cause of fire is suspected to be a chemical reactor blast due to reaction of chemicals and the loss estimated is approximately `1 crore, which is yet to fully assessed,” said RFO Papaiah. At around 10 pm, another blast took place at  the same spot. There was a stock of chemicals which were not cleared. Due to heat the chemicals exploded creating loud noise, resulting in panic among residents. Two fire tenders were pressed into service and it took around two hours for the them to douse the fire.