On Thursday, workers at a pharmaceutical facility in south India were attempting to stop chemical leaks when an explosion blasted across it as well, killing at least 17 and injuring 36.
The explosion took place at noon on Wednesday at the privately owned Escientia Advanced Sciences in Andhra Pradesh, where almost 400 people work to produce intermediate chemicals and active components for sale to the United States and other Western countries.
Srinivasa Rao Korada, chief financial officer of the Escientia Group, shared with Reuters by telephone, “It looks like it happened from a solvent leak; it was not clear what triggered the leak. Workers had noticed that leak; they were attending to it and had almost plugged the leak when this happened.” The state Industries Secretary N. Yuvaraj quoted, “Preliminary investigation shows … there was some vapour leak that led to chemical reactions, which caused the explosion.”
The company is working with authorities to determine the cause for the leak, Korada stated, while mentioning that smoke and fire stopped this business from investigating promptly. Officials added they were reviewing the CCTV footage and interogating those injured to determine whether it was human to blame. As per Chandrababu Naidu, an investigation into the tragedy will be conducted. He also said, “We also hope this will be the last such incident.”