Navigated explosion, darkness, fumes to save life, says Andhra pharma unit disaster survivor

Amaravati, Aug 25 (PTI) P Mohan Satish (30), who survived the recent pharma unit industrial disaster at Atchutapuram in Anakapalli district in Andhra Pradesh said on Sunday that he gave up hope at one time but managed to navigate a deafening explosion, toxic fumes, darkness and other dangers to save his life.

Married recently and employed with Escientia Advanced Sciences Pvt Ltd in the quality control (QC) department, Satish had just finished his lunch and returned to the department on that fateful day, August 21, when a powerful vapour cloud explosion ripped through the three-floor building.

Discharging duties in the A shift from 6 am to 2 pm, he was waiting to handover work to his B shift replacement.

“I finished my lunch and entered the QC department by 2.10 pm to hand over the shift. Then, immediately we heard a deafening blast and there was a power cut. We rushed to the ground floor to escape but the entrance there collapsed and got blocked. There was no way to exit,” Satish told PTI.

Satish and colleagues rushed to the second floor but the explosion blew it away, compelling them to escape to the third floor, where it was okay for the initial five minutes but the toxic fumes started to envelop later.

They managed to break a glass window and shouted for help from there. Two hours later they were rescued using ladder vehicles. A National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team was also involved in saving their lives.

Authorities shifted 11 survivors from the third floor to a nearby hospital. Satish received an injection and an x-ray examination as part of his treatment.

Meanwhile, Satish’s pregnant wife fainted after learning about the disaster on television, prompting him to get discharged prematurely to be by her side.

However, because of this he lost out on the Rs 25 lakh ex gratia announced by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu for injured persons.

“I was informed that I would not get the ex-gratia as I had been discharged from the hospital prematurely.

Five colleagues received the compensation and I also deserve it. I got prematurely discharged from the hospital to save my pregnant wife,” Satish reasoned, appealing to government authorities.

As he inhaled a lot of toxic fumes, Satish said his throat burned and he also fears if he would face any health related consequences in the future. He visited another hospital later for checkup.

He said the majority of the 17 people who died in the disaster were employees, and they included process development department head Rami Reddy and a young 22-year engineer C Harika.

Besides the 17 deaths, over 33 people were injured.

Escientia Advanced Sciences commenced production in April 2019 with an investment of Rs 200 crore. It makes intermediate chemicals and active pharmaceutical ingredients (API).

It is located on a 40-acre campus in the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation's multi-product SEZ at the Atchutapuram cluster.

PTI STH ANE