Seven migrant workers injured in reactor explosion in Hyderabad
Hyderabad: Seven migrant workers were injured in a reactor explosion at Srikar Pharmaceuticals Limited’s unit in IDA Bollaram, Hyderabad, on the night of January 20, 2025.
The injured workers have been identified as Brijesh, Eswara Chandra Agaria, Puspharaj, Sundar Singh, Chand Prathap, Sheik Anwar, and Nilesh Singh. They are all migrant workers who had come to Hyderabad from various states.
According to reports, the injured workers were immediately rushed to a corporate hospital in Madinaguda for treatment.
Three of them are said to be in critical condition. The specific cause of the explosion is still unknown, and the police have initiated a case while they look into the incident. There are also ongoing efforts to evaluate the damage resulting from the explosion.
This incident follows a similar explosion at Aurore Pharmaceuticals in Suraram, Hyderabad, on November 20, 2024, which resulted in two deaths and multiple injuries.
The Scientists for People and Human Rights Forum (HRF) has raised concerns about the lack of safety protocols in the pharmaceutical industry. They warned that the aspirations for creating “pharma villages” or a “pharma city” in the region remain unrealistic without proper safety measures in place. HRF has demanded compensation for the victims of the Aurore Pharmaceutical blast and the public release of the preliminary investigation report.
In the Aurore Pharmaceuticals case, a reactor explosion during cleaning operations killed two workers, Anil Kumar (42) and Balaram (51), while two others, Gopichand (30) and Srinivas Reddy (46), sustained injuries.
Preliminary findings indicated that the explosion occurred while workers were adding chemicals to the reactor using buckets, although it is still unclear whether a spark or other factors contributed to the blast.
