Fire in Dr Reddy's plant; 2 killed

Two workers were charred to death in a fire at Dr Reddy's Laboratories (DRL) plant at Bollarum in Medak district on Thursday night. The fire broke out in the material-handling lift area at G Block in the unit's chemical manufacturing facility at Bolarum at 10.50 pm on Thursday night. The deceased, K Govind Rao, 34, of Srikakulam district and D Keshava, 24, of Vizianagaram district were casual workers, police said.Both were residents of Lakshminagar, Bollarum.
Meanwhile, DRL officials said the exact cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained as immediate shut down of the G Block was carried out for safety reasons. The fire was contained within the host area and was subsequently put out by the plant personnel using the fire fighting equipment, the official said. Police have registered a case under Section 304 A (causing death by negligence) against the DRL management, the officer added.
This is the second fire incident at the pharma major's plant in the past three months. Two DRL employees were killed in a fire mishap in December last. According to a senior police officer, Govind Rao and Keshava were shifting materials in the lift attached to Unit I when electrical sparks led to the blaze which spread rapidly. The two got stuck in the lift and were burnt to death.