Hyderabad: 4 hurt in fire mishap at pharma company

Jeedimetla: Thick black smoke engulfed the area at SV Cooperative Estate in the Jeedimetla Industrial Area early on Wednesday when a blast occurred in a pharma company. The tragic incident took place at Nasense Labs Pvt Ltd in which four employees suffered burn injuries, one 80 per cent.

The employees were identified as Hari Prasad (shift in-charge), Arjun and Manish Baski. Another employee Vijay, who went missing in the melee, was found later by the police and shifted to a nearby hospital.

According to the police, the preliminary investigation revealed that an explosion in a chemical reactor caused the blaze. It spread rapidly to three other reactors. Fortunately, the remaining seven reactors did not catch fire, as the flames were doused by the Fire Services personnel on time. If not, the damage would have been severe.

Additional District Fire Officer, Ranga Reddy, Sudhakar, said, "We received a call at around 10 am, but the incident occurred at around 8.30 am. As the company employees tried to douse using extinguishers and by other means, they delayed calling us due to which the fire spread rapidly. However, upon receiving the call we rushed four fire-fighting tenders to the spot. Also, five water tankers were pressed into service." "After trying hard for an hour the flames were doused. Fortunately, no casualties were reported. The estimate of property loss is yet to be taken into account, as the investigation is going on," Reddy added.

The Jeedimetla Industrial Area is a hub for small and medium-scale industries apart from large pharma firms. It has numerous godowns for storing chemicals.