At least 39 people died in a factory fire in India’s southern state of Telangana, a senior fire department official said on Tuesday, after an explosion at Sigachi Industries, a day earlier. The explosion also injured 34, according to officials.The government of Telangana, where the facility is located, has formed a five-member committee to probe the incident, the cause of which is yet to be disclosed by the company. 

“We are still clearing the debris […] The building has collapsed and fabricated completely,” GV Narayana Rao, director of Telangana fire disaster response emergency, told Reuters. “Once we are all done with the clearing, only then we will be able to assess if any other body is still remaining under the debris or if it is all clear,” he said. On Monday, an explosion occurred at a chemical facility of Sigachi Industries leading to a fire, the police said. Police officials said more than 140 people were working in the plant when the incident occurred.

Twenty-five of the deceased were yet to be identified, district administrative official P Pravinya said. Sigachi, which makes microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), caters to clients in the pharma, food, cosmetic and specialty chemicals sectors in countries ranging from the US to Australia. MCC is primarily used to prevent the formation of lumps in food products, to maintain texture of cosmetic products, and as a fat substitute in low-calorie foods. The plant contributes a little over a fourth of the company’s total capacity of 21,700 million metric tonnes per annum.

Its shares dropped about 6 per cent on Tuesday and were headed for their sharpest two-day drop since listing in 2021. The company did not say what led to the fire, but said it was halting operations at the facility for 90 days, citing damage to equipment and structures within the plant from the fire. In a separate incident on Tuesday, five people were killed and four others injured in a massive fire at a crackers factory in the Sivakasi manufacturing cluster in the southern Tamil Nadu state, a fire department official said. The incident is the latest in a series of fire accidents in the area.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)