3 die in fire at Mylan pharma's warehouse in Telangana

HYDERABAD: Three persons working for a pharma major died in a fire at its warehouse at Gaddapotharam in Sangareddy district on Sunday afternoon.
Police said that Mylan pharmaceutical's warehouse assistant manager Lokeshwar Rao, 38, his assistants - Parithosh Mehata, 40, and Ranjith Kumar, 27, both contract workers - died after suffering severe burns while transferring a chemical from a drum to another container at the company's unit-I.
Mehata was a native of West Bengal, while Ranjith was from Bihar and Rao from Andhra Pradesh. They were charred beyond recognition and succumbed at hospital.
Around 11.45am, the three were inside the liquid raw material sampling/dispensing room when the incident happened.
While they were shifting a chemical (tetramethyledisiloxane) from a 100 litre drum into a 25 litre container, it suddenly triggered a fire. The trio suffered extreme burns," DSP (Patancheru) Bheem Reddy told TOI. "It was like a flash, which comes out due to a chemical reaction. It lasted only for a few seconds, but it was of extremely high temperature," IDA Bolaram inspector Surender Reddy said.
When the accident took place, an employee, Rajesh, a forklift driver, was at some distance and he immediately alerted his higher-ups.
"There were fire extinguishers at the plant. After the fire broke out, staff immediately doused the flame. They did not call the fire department officials," the DSP said.
The victims were charred beyond recognition, when police and the company staff went to their rescue. They were shifted to a private hospital, where they succumbed. A case was registered against Mylan Pharma management.