Two people die in chemical plant blast in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Two persons originally hailing from Bihar were killed in an explosion on Monday at Jeevika Life Sciences Ltd., a company located in Jeedimetla in the city. The police suspect that a reactor containing tri-methylene chloride could have exploded due to high pressure.

According to the police, the blast took place at around 2 pm at Jeevika Life Sciences, located at Ramreddy Nagar in phase IV of the Jeedimetla industrial area. A reactor containing chemicals exploded due to high pressure resulting in a blast. The plant was engulfed in flames and thick smoke soon afterwards.

The wall of a room in which the reactor exploded collapsed and fell on one of the workers, who was operating the reactor.

He died instantly. Another worker, who was working close to the, reactor died within no time too due to burn injuries.

The body of Md Anwar, 22 years old, was found under the rubble. Amresh Das, 22 years old, was pulled out with critical burn injuries, but died before he could be rushed to a hospital for emergency medical care.

The Jeedimetla police said that the deceased persons were working as reactor operators at the company. Both hailed from Bihar.

The clues teams, and the sleuths from the office of Inspector of Factories have collected samples from the spot to analyse the reason for such an explosion. Prima facie, officials suspected, tri-methylene chloride in the reactor could have exploded.

Subhash Reddy from the Jeedimetla fire station office said that the reactor which exploded was placed and operated out of a temporary construction. Besides the two persons, who died, four were rescued. The rescued persons did not suffer any injuries, he said.

“We received a fire call at around 2.35 pm. There are eight reactors in the plant, among which only one reactor was functional. It exploded due to some pressure and chemical reaction. The gases that emerged out after the explosion caused pungent smell and irritation in eye to locals,” he said.

The police have shifted the bodies of the deceased to the Gandhi Hospital mortuary for autopsy. A case has been registered against the company for further investigation.