Three of the four who died at the Laurus Lab facility are from Andhra Pradesh, and one from Telangana's Khammam district.
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Four workers were charred to death and one is undergoing treatment after an explosion at a pharmaceutical manufacturing company in JN Pharma City of Parawada in the Anakapalle district late on Monday, 26 December.
The explosion took place at one of the units of Laurus Labs in JN Pharma City.
Sources in the district administration said the explosion occurred while the workers were trying to stop a leakage of toluene solvent from a high-pressure reactor used to manufacture APIs. Fire tenders were immediately pressed into service and the fire was doused.
Without divulging any details of the mishap, Laurus Labs on Tuesday morning informed the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) that a flash fire occurred that had killed four workers and an investigation has been launched into the mishap.
Laurus Labs operate six manufacturing facilities in the Anakapalle district, and one facility in Hyderabad. At five of these are manufacturing facilities.
The deceased have been identified as Bangi Rambabu, 32, of Khammam, Talasila Rajesh Babu 36, of Guntur, Rapeti Ramakrishna, 28, of K Kotapadu mandal of Anakapalle district, Majji Venkat Rao, 36, of Chodavaram.
Yadla Sateesh of Ranga Reddy district in Telangana is undergoing treatment at a private hospital.
“We regret to inform you that on the evening of 26th December 2022 flash fire occurred in one of the rooms in one manufacturing block of our API manufacturing plant (Unit 3), Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City, Parawada, Anakapally district, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The operations in the other production blocks are running normally.
Laurus Labs disclosure to BSE.
“Further, we deeply regret to inform that two of regular employees and two contract employees have lost their lives after reaching hospital. One regular employee is in hospital and undergoing treatment. We extend our full support to the families. The Company launched investigation into the incident. The Company estimates that no material impact on the operations,” Laurus Labs’ Company Secretary G Venkateswar Reddy told the BSE.
Laurus specialises in manufacturing anti-retroviral, hepatitis C, and oncology drugs.
Anakapalle RDO A Chinnikrishna said that at the time of the mishap there were at least 10 workers in the unit’s underground facility.
While the remaining workers escaped safely, five received severe injuries. Four workers who received severe injuries died after reaching the hospital. and one worker is undergoing treatment.
Andhra Pradesh Industries minister Gudivada Amarnath announced a ₹25 lakh compensation to the families of each of the deceased on behalf of the state government.
It was only in October the US Food and Drag Administration had inspected the Laurus Labs manufacturing facility at Parawada.
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