Chemical leak cited as possible cause of blast at pharma company in Telangana

April 12, 2024 06:56 pm | Updated 07:34 pm IST - HYDERABAD

Hot oil leaked from the jacket of the reactor coming in contact with the reaction mixture was the cause of the explosion at SB Organics Ltd. in Sangareddy’s Hathnoora, according to officials from the Pollution Control Board (PCB). Smoke came out of the reactor for about 30 minutes before the explosion, a preliminary investigation showed.

The explosion at the plant in the evening of April 3 killed six men, including one of the plant’s directors, and injured 16 others.

Geeta Sapare, the PCB official who inspected the site of the incident later in the evening of April 3, said though the leak was controlled, the already-smoking mixture triggered a blast. “They deal with raw materials with explosive nature at the plant. We learnt that D. Ravi Kumar Sharma, one of the directors, was trying to control the smoke for about 30 minutes but succumbed on the spot with the explosion,” she added.

The company has three units on the premises. The explosion fully razed unit 1 and the shockwaves shattered the window panes of unit 2, located a few metres away.

On the allegations of the reactor having been outdated, officials from the PCB said the Department of Factories is probing into it. An Inspector from that department, Praveen, said the allegation is still under investigation. “There is no doubt that the blast was caused by the chemical reaction. However, probe about the safety of the reactor is yet to be completed,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Patancheru police have written to the CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to inspect the site of the incident. “The probe is also to ascertain whether the chemists at the plant were manufacturing anything other than the licensed and permitted chemicals,” said the officials.

Some officials of the Sangareddy Fire department said that as per their probe, the plant was supplying the substance to an Ordnance Factory in Madhya Pradesh.