The incident was reported at Visakha Solvent in Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City. (Express)
A huge fire engulfed a solvent manufacturing unit in Parwada on the outskirts of Visakhapatnam Monday. While some workers have been injured, there have been no reports of fatalities so far. At the time of filing of this report, efforts were on to douse the blaze.
The incident was reported at Visakha Solvent in Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City. According to revenue department officials, before the blaze, there was an explosion that rattled the windows of nearby buildings.
A Satyanarayana, a workers union leader, claimed the first bang could be heard up to 2 kms away, and there were several small explosions after that. He said a few workers were injured.
There are about 80 units in the Pharma City. The fire is so big that officials are worried it could spread to neighbouring factories.
Revenue Divisional Officer P Kishore said six persons have been taken to hospital, out of which one has burn injuries. “It is almost an hour now that the fire is burning. As far as we know, there are no fatalities,” he said.
A light rain is helping fire and emergency services control the blaze.
This is the second mishap in the area in recent days. On June 30, two persons died and five were injured after a Benzimidazole gas leak at a pharmaceutical manufacturing company inside Pharma City.
Before this, on May 7, Styrene vapour leak from LG Polymers killed at least 12 persons and affected over 300 persons in Vishakhapatnam.