Fire breaks out at Visakhapatnam's pharma city, one injured

At least six workers were present when the fire broke out. Luckily five of them escaped unhurt while another suffered injuries, officials said.
Fire at Visakhapatnam's Pharma City. (Photo| EPS)
Fire at Visakhapatnam's Pharma City. (Photo| EPS)

VISAKHAPATNAM: In yet another incident of industrial mishap in the Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City at Parawada, a fire broke out in Visakha Solvents late on Monday night where one person sustained injuries.

Firefighters are trying to douse the flames till last reports came in.

The fire broke out around 10.30 pm and locals claimed that they have heard atleast 15 blasts before the premises went up in flames. Thick smoke was billowing out from the premises and the smoke can be witnessed from more than 15 kilometres, locals said.

At least six workers were present when the fire broke out. Luckily five of them escaped unhurt while another suffered injuries, officials said.

At least 10 fire tenders from the pharma city and nearby areas were rushed to involved in fire fighting. Chemical Foam and water is being sprayed to douse the flames. Ambulances were also kept ready to shift any worker, if any, stuck inside the unit.

Visakhapatnam City Commissioner of Police Rajeev Kumar Meena said they are ascertaining the cause of the fire. "Both the police and fire service department personnel are at the spot to douse the blaze," he said.

District Collector V Vinay Chand, who is monitoring the fire fighting, said they are rushing more fire tenders to bring the flames under control.

Officials are fearing that the fire might spread as there are 80 pharma units in the premises and are located just 200 metres distance of one another.

According to CEO of pharma city Lal Krishna, fire broke out in Visakha Solvents company. The company recovers waste solvents generated from pharma units. Fire broke out in one of the columns during the recovery process. However, it is not known whether blast triggered fire or fire triggered blast. He said only one employee was injured and he was shifted to hospital. 

This is the second industrial mishap in the pharma city in the recent past. A blast in the Sainor pharma on June 30 claimed two lives. Earlier, styrene gas leakage from LG Polymers plant at RR Venkatapuram village claimed 12 lives.
 

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