Two dead, five injured in Indian pharma factory fire

Hyderabad (Reuters) – Two people were dead and five others were injured in a fire at a unit of a privately held pharmaceutical company in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh on Friday, the police said.

The fire broke out in a solvent reactor at a unit of Sahithi Pharma in Andhra Pradesh’s Anakapalli district, the district superintendent of police, Murali Krishna, said.

Of the five injured, one of them is extremely critical with over 95% burns, Andhra Pradesh Industries and Information Technology Minister Gudivada Amarnath told Reuters.

“The incident was reported at around 11 in the morning at Sahithi Pharma’s solvent recovery unit and it took 6 hours to get the situation under control,” Amarnath said after he visited the pharma unit.

A committee, with officials from the state revenue department, police, pollution control board and deputy inspector of factories, is being constituted to conduct a detailed inquiry to identify the cause of the incident, the minister said.

Sahithi Pharma did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The chief minister’s office has announced an ex gratia of 25 lakh rupees to the families of the dead, the minister said.