Tragic Factory Explosion in Telangana Claims Lives of Odisha Workers

Devastating Incident in Telangana

Bhubaneswar/Berhampur: A tragic explosion at a pharmaceutical factory in Telangana has resulted in the deaths of four workers from Odisha, with five others still unaccounted for. Family members have traveled to the site to provide DNA samples for identification of the unidentified victims, as reported on Thursday.

Relatives of four of the missing individuals have already submitted their DNA samples, while the family of the fifth person is expected to arrive later today.

The missing workers include two from Nabarangpur district, two from Ganjam, and one from Cuttack. The bodies of the deceased have been returned to their hometowns in Odisha.

As of now, the death toll from the June 30 explosion in Sangareddy district has reached 38, with numerous others injured.

"According to local authorities, there were 143 employees present in the factory at the time of the explosion. Among them, four from Odisha lost their lives, four sustained injuries—one critically—and five remain missing," stated Pritish Panda, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) at the Directorate of Odisha Parivaar.

The deceased have been identified as R Jaganmohan from Ganjam, Lagnajit Duari from Cuttack, Manoj Rout from Balasore, and Dolagovind Sahu from Jajpur.

Injured individuals include Samir Padhi from Ganjam, Chandan Kumar Nayak from Bhadrak, Nilambar Bhadra from Nabarangpur, and Chitrasen Batra. Samir Padhi is reported to be in critical condition with severe burn injuries and is currently in the ICU.

Panda, along with another official, is in Sangareddy to provide necessary assistance to the affected families.

The bodies of the deceased have been transported back to Odisha in ambulances.

Jaganmohan's body was received by his family in Chhatrapur, Ganjam district, on Wednesday. Local residents, along with Chhatrapur MLA Krushna Chandra Nayak and Labour Department officials, visited to offer their condolences.

His wife, Vijayalaxmi, and their two sons, who have been residing in Hyderabad for over twenty years, accompanied the body back home to perform the last rites according to tradition.

Jaganmohan had been employed in the factory's accounts department for more than twenty years and was conducting an inspection when the explosion occurred, as shared by his elder son, R Sai Yashwanth.

"We rushed to the site but could only find his charred remains," he recounted.

The body was sent from Hyderabad on Tuesday and arrived in Odisha early Wednesday. The Telangana government has provided ₹1 lakh to assist with the last rites.

Samir Padhy, another victim from Ganjam, is fighting for his life in a Hyderabad hospital. He has worked as a machine operator at the factory for seven years.

The explosion took place just ten minutes after he entered the facility, according to his brother-in-law, Papu Kumar Choudhuary, who was also working there.

"We both entered the plant shortly before the blast. I managed to escape when the first explosion occurred, but many others were trapped," Choudhury explained.

He added that Lagnajit Duari, a 20-year-old from Tigiria in Cuttack, was working alongside a colleague from Bihar in his section when the blast occurred, leading to their tragic deaths.