Week after blast at Telangana factory, search continues for 8 missing workers

Hyderabad, July 7 (IANS) A week after the horrific fire and explosion at Sigachi Industries Limited’s manufacturing unit in Pashamylaram near Hyderabad, the search continues for eight missing workers.

Rescue teams continued to comb through the debris to find the remains of the missing men.

Personnel from Fire Services, SDRF, HYDRAA and police continued combing through the debris for human remains.

The anxious wait for the families of the missing workers continued at the help centre set up for the families of the victims for the eighth day. They have urged the authorities to intensify the debris removal.

The death toll in the fire and explosion rose to 42 on Sunday with two of the injured succumbing at a hospital Patancheru.

Sigachi Industries, in a statement on Sunday night, said that it was saddened to share the loss of two more team members since July 4, taking the death toll to 42.

Of the 33 injured team members, 14 have now recovered and been discharged from the hospital, while 18 continue to be under medical attention in various hospitals, it said.

Of the 143 members present on-site during the time of the accident, 61 are safe, the company statement added.

A major explosion occurred in the manufacturing plant of Sigachi Industries at Pashamylaram, Patancheru Mandal, Sangareddy district on June 30.

The plant manufactures Microcrystalline Cellulose powder, which is used in tablets and capsules as a binding agent.

Rescue teams found human remains from the site and they were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Hyderabad for DNA analysis.

DNA samples collected from families of the workers matched with the two bodies at government hospital mortuary in Patancheru on Sunday. They were identified as D. Ramanjaneyulu of Andhra Pradesh and Mothukuri Akhil from Telangana.

Authorities have completed identification process of 38 bodies at the mortuary.

Officials are sending the bodies in ambulances to their native places with police escort. Two police Constables are accompanying each body.

Sigachi Industries has already announced Rs.1 crore compensation each to the families of the deceased. It also announced that it will bear all the expenditure towards the treatment of the injured and provide them all the support.

--IANS

ms/rad