6 killed in fire at chemical factory in AP

Eluru, April 14 : At least 6 people were killed and 12 injured in a massive fire accident that took place in a chemical factory called Porus Private Limited in the Musunuru village of Andhra Pradesh’s Krishna district on Wednesday, police said. The AP government announced Rs 25 lakh ex-gratia to each of the family of the deceased. Police said that after midnight a reactor in t 4 exploded and flames spread all over in which five of the workers who were on duty burnt alive and another died while being shifted to hospital. The condition of the four of the injured said to be very critical. Five of the deceased belonged to Bihar state. The injured were shifted to the government general hospital in Nuzvid. Later four of the later shifted to Vijayawada as their condition turned to be critical. Fire tenders rushed there and put off the flames. Chemical substance, which is used by the pharmaceutical companies in making medicines, is manufactured in the porus company. Collector V Prasanna Venkatesh, SP Rahul Dev Sharma and MP Kotagiri Sridhar reviewed the situation. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy expressed shock and grief over the incident. The Chief Minister announced Rs 25 lakh ex gratia to each of the family of the deceased, Rs. 5 lakh to each of those who sustained major injuries and Rs 2 lakh each of those who sustained minor injuries. DP GNK