ATCHUTAPURAM: A fire at a pharmaceutical unit here on Wednesday left 13 people dead and 33 injured, and the damage could have been worse had it not been for the lunch break when fewer workers were at the plant when the blaze broke out. Heartbreaking scenes were seen at the SEZ where the fire razed the pharmaceutical company. Injured workers with torn clothes and bleeding wounds were seen being rushed to hospitals in ambulances.
The fire broke out at 2.15 pm at Escientia Advanced Science Pvt Ltd at Atchutapuram in Anakapalli district. The company, which manufactures chemical intermediates and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), started production in April 2019 with an investment of Rs 200 crore. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has directed officials to use air ambulance services, if required, to ferry injured people for better treatment from the accident site.
The Chief Minister, who is scheduled to visit the special economic zone (SEZ) where the accident took place, observed that air ambulance services could be used to shift the patients to Visakhapatnam or Hyderabad for better medical care. “The Chief Minister has directed the officials to use air ambulance services to shift the injured persons, if required. He also directed the health secretary to immediately visit the accident site,” according to an official press release.
The Chief Minister will visit the accident site on Thursday to visit the families of the deceased and also meet those who were seriously injured. He further ordered a high-level inquiry into the incident and promised stern action against the administration if its negligence is found to be the cause of the tragic incident.
Naidu spoke to Anakapalli district revenue collector Vijaya Krishnan several times about the incident and gave instructions to provide better services to the affected people. Earlier, the revenue collector told PTI that the factory is operating with 381 employees in two shifts.
“The fire broke out during lunch hour, so the presence of staff was less,” he said. The official added that the fire is suspected to be electricity-related. As many as 33 injured people were shifted to different hospitals in Anakapalli and Atchutapuram, while the Fire Department is involved in rescue operations, deploying six fire tenders.
Besides, 13 people trapped in the unit were rescued using ladder vehicles, Krishnan said. Naidu expressed grief over the loss of lives and assured that the government would support the families of the workers who died. Relatives of the deceased complained that the authorities were not keeping them informed about the developments and the whereabouts of their affected family members.
The company is located on a 40-acre campus in the multi-product special economic zone (SEZ) of Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) in the Atchutapuram cluster.
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