PUDUCHERRY: Fourteen workers sustained severe burn injuries in a fire accident at a pharmaceutical company in Kalapet in Puducherry around 9pm on Saturday.
Eleven workers were rushed to the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (Jipmer), two to a private hospital here and one to Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences. The eleven injured workers undergoing treatment at Jipmer were later shifted to Apollo Hospital in Chennai.
The condition of four workers is critical.
Police said a section of workers of Strides Shasun Limited were leaving for home after their shift while another section of workers were arriving around 9pm on Saturday when a huge fire engulfed the pharma and packing block of the plant injuring 14 workers.
Five fire tenders rushed to the industrial unit, where rescue personnel fought for more than two hours to douse the blaze. The fire completely damaged the block.
Initial inquiries by the office of chief inspector of factories and boilers, Puducherry, said a spark from the exhaust of a four-wheeler inside the plant might have led to the fire. The vehicle was being used in the pharma block without any safety precautions like spark arrestors in its exhaust.
The fire that engulfed the block rose up to 100 feet and could be seen by residents from a distance of 2km, a local resident said.
Inspector (factories) R Murali, who inspected the industrial unit, prohibited the unit from using the pharma block with immediate effect.
Incorporated in 1990, Strides is a global pharmaceutical company headquartered in Bengaluru, India.
Political leaders cutting across party lines demanded that the Puducherry government order a probe into the accident.
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