Employees left gas leak unattended during lunch break, 17 people died in pharmaceutical factory
VISAKHAPATNAM: The lives of the 17 workers who died in the August 21 chemical explosion at an industrial plant in Anakapalli district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh could have been saved if the leak of the deadly chemical methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) could have been stopped in time.
According to an official report from the state government’s factories department, seen by TOI, the production team of pharmaceutical company Escientia noticed a pungent smell of MTBE around 1 pm that day, over an hour before the blast. After cross-checking, they found that MTBE was continuously leaking from a transfer line and falling through a slot on the first floor onto the MCC (motor control centre) panel on the ground floor. However, despite the obvious danger, the engineering and production teams did not bother about the leak as it happened during lunch break.
The entire building was equipped with recirculated air handling units (AHUs) by installing ducts on all floors, with the main AHU units located on the ground floor. At the same time, the vapors from the chemical leaks on the ground and first floors were extracted through these AHUs and ducted to other areas such as office spaces, quality control laboratories, and supply and material storage areas.
When attempts were made to control the leak at around 2:30 p.m., it was already too late: the concentration of MTBE vapors in the air had reached a dangerously high level and exceeded the lower explosion limit concentration (gas or vapor that causes an explosion) in all rooms connected to the AHU ducts.
Suddenly, the MCC control room exploded, causing the cement concrete walls to collapse in the opposite direction. About five to ten seconds later, a second explosion occurred in all AHUs, causing explosions in all connected rooms – all within five seconds. The consecutive explosions surprised the staff and employees attending to the leak and those floors. The explosions were so powerful that some of the victims’ body parts were thrown high enough to land in trees adjacent to the plant. The bodies of some victims were charred and mutilated, making their identification extremely difficult.
The inspection reports were submitted to the office of the Deputy Chief Inspector of Factories, Visakhapatnam.
According to an official report from the state government’s factories department, seen by TOI, the production team of pharmaceutical company Escientia noticed a pungent smell of MTBE around 1 pm that day, over an hour before the blast. After cross-checking, they found that MTBE was continuously leaking from a transfer line and falling through a slot on the first floor onto the MCC (motor control centre) panel on the ground floor. However, despite the obvious danger, the engineering and production teams did not bother about the leak as it happened during lunch break.
The entire building was equipped with recirculated air handling units (AHUs) by installing ducts on all floors, with the main AHU units located on the ground floor. At the same time, the vapors from the chemical leaks on the ground and first floors were extracted through these AHUs and ducted to other areas such as office spaces, quality control laboratories, and supply and material storage areas.
When attempts were made to control the leak at around 2:30 p.m., it was already too late: the concentration of MTBE vapors in the air had reached a dangerously high level and exceeded the lower explosion limit concentration (gas or vapor that causes an explosion) in all rooms connected to the AHU ducts.
Suddenly, the MCC control room exploded, causing the cement concrete walls to collapse in the opposite direction. About five to ten seconds later, a second explosion occurred in all AHUs, causing explosions in all connected rooms – all within five seconds. The consecutive explosions surprised the staff and employees attending to the leak and those floors. The explosions were so powerful that some of the victims’ body parts were thrown high enough to land in trees adjacent to the plant. The bodies of some victims were charred and mutilated, making their identification extremely difficult.
The inspection reports were submitted to the office of the Deputy Chief Inspector of Factories, Visakhapatnam.
