Visakhapatnam: Leakage of hydrochloric acid in Tagoor Laboratories, a pharma unit, in Parawada village of Anakapalli district, claimed the life of a worker and left nine others, including the director of the company, hospitalized on Tuesday night. The incident came to light on Wednesday afternoon following the death of a 23-year-old helper in cleaning wing, Amith Bag, from Odisha.
Currently, six employees of the pharma unit are undergoing treatment at Pavan Sai Hospital in Gajuwaka, and another three workers are in KIMS Hospital in Sheelanagar. Among them, the condition of two persons, S Veera Sekhar and Dumpala Chinni Krishna, is serious as they are on ventilators receiving treatment in the intensive care unit.
The district collector ordered an inquiry into the accident by the inspector of factories and instructed the collection of CCTV footage of the accident spot.
Tagoor Laboratories was established the unit in Pharma city in 2022. According to Anakapalli district collector Vijaya Krishnan and superintendent of police Tuhin Sinha, the accident occurred at 4.30 pm on Tuesday in the Tagoor Labs unit when 400 litres of hydrochloric acid leaked from the reactor cum receiver tank (GLR-325). After the accident, one of the directors of the company, M Bhaskara Pradeep, monitored the cleaning works at the spot. He was also hospitalized late in the night. Chloroform and hydrochloric acid mixed to create a third intermediate in the tank. The leakage created fumes, and everyone was evacuated.
Vijaya Krishnan visited Pavan Sai Hospital, where six people were admitted, and Kims Hospital, where another five people are receiving treatment. AP CM Nara Chandrababu Naidu enquired with officials about the medical help to the victims.
Anakapalle MP CM Ramesh, home minister V Anita expressed anger over the negligence of the companies even after the govt strictly warned them to take every safety precaution in the industries in the wake of previous incidents. She told TOI that stringent action would be initiated against the management’s negligence and the persons responsible for the accident after inquiry.
