Two Workers Killed in Reactor Blast at Telangana Pharma Unit

Two workers died and nine others were injured after a reactor exploded at a pharmaceutical unit in Telangana’s Yadadri-Bhuvanagiri district late on Friday night. The blast at Hazelo Lab Pvt Ltd in Dotigudem village, Pochampally mandal, sparked a fire that firefighters brought under control within hours.

Police identified the dead as Chennu Nagi Reddy, 31, from Nalgonda district, and Naganaboina Naresh Kumar, 29, from Khammam. Two of the injured suffered burns covering more than 50 percent of their bodies. The remaining seven had lesser injuries. Several workers were from Andhra Pradesh.

The explosion occurred around 10:27 pm while about a dozen workers were present during the night shift change. Fire tenders from Choutuppal, Bhongir and Hayathnagar reached the site. A case has been registered and investigation into possible safety lapses is under way.

This is the second incident at the unit in recent weeks. A worker died there in July after a gas leak.