Fire destroys pharma lab

Hyderabad: Sriyaan Lab Private Limited, a pharmaceutical company located at Bibinagar in Nalgonda district, was completely destroyed in a fire on Monday. The fire was triggered while a methyl tanker was being unloaded.

The fire, which started at around 11 am, completely destroyed the unit causing a loss of around Rs 20 crore. However, all the workers at the unit escaped safely and no casualties were reported.

Once the fire control room was alerted, seven fire tenders from Choutuppal, Bhongir, Ramannapet, Hayathnagar and Bibinager fire stations rushed to the spot. The firefighting operations went on for about two- and-a-half hours.

“While a methyl tanker was being unloaded, a small spark led to an explosion and caused a fire,” Srinivas Rao, the in-charge at the unit said. The situation is under control and investigations are on.

Spread across five acres, Sriyaan Lab had around 200 workers. As soon as the workers saw the flames, they rushed out.

With the factory storing many kinds of inflammable chemicals, workers and people in the neighbourhood feared that the accident would result in a major mishap. “We expected more chemical explosions to take place, but everything has been extinguished right now.

We are still assessing the cause of the fire and the loss,” Harinath, the district fire officer, of Nalgonda said. The neighbourhood has a Montessori school and news of the accident triggered panic among parents and authorities.

Bhongir RDO Bhaskar Rao, DSP Srinivas and other officials visited the site to supervise operations. A fire accident case has been booked.