Telangana plant explosion: Nine people are still missing, expert committee to visit site
Sangareddy (PTI): As many as nine people are still missing in the explosion at the Sigachi Industries' pharma plant in Pashamylaram that claimed at least 38 lives and left 35 injured, and efforts are on to trace them, Superintendent of Police (SP) of this district, Paritosh Pankaj, said on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the expert committee appointed by the state government to ascertain the causes and establish the sequence of events that led to the explosion is expected to visit the site on Thursday.
The panel should submit a detailed report with specific suggestions and recommendations, within a month, to the government.
The committee will be headed by Dr B Venkateswar Rao, Emeritus Scientist, at CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology.
A senior official of the district said some injured who are undergoing treatment in various hospitals are likely to be discharged today.
"Death toll remains at 38. Nine people are missing. But maybe today or tomorrow, once we get the reports of bones and other things from FSL (Forensic Science Lab), then things will be clear," SP Pankaj told PTI.
He said 90 percent of the debris removal was over and is not anticipating any bodies to surface further.
He, however, said some human remains may surface, and as and when they come up, they will be sent for examination.
Amit Raj Sinha, Managing Director & CEO of Sigachi, on Wednesday denied the allegations that the firm had used old machinery. He said the facility was old, but not the machinery.
Sinha, ruling out a reactor explosion at the plant, opined that a dust explosion in the dryer section could have caused the havoc.
Sigahci announced a solatium of Rs 1 crore each to the kin of the deceased.
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Karnataka to witness heavy rain for next 10 days
Bengaluru: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast that the southwest monsoon will cause heavy rainfall likely this weekend and will drench Karnataka over the next 10 days.
The monsoon has begun retreating from northwestern India. Conditions remain active over the south, with an upper air trough extending up to 1.5 km over North Interior Karnataka and northern Tamil Nadu, combined with weakening monsoon winds across the peninsula, is driving the current spell. N. Puviarasan, head of the IMD’s meteorological centre in Bengaluru, said in a conversation with Deccan Herald, “As a result, the whole of Karnataka will see rain over the next week to 10 days."
With a cyclone in the Pacific Ocean along with a low-pressure system over the north Bay of Bengal, the monsoon is expected to intensify during the next four days. IMD has predicted heavy rains across South Interior Karnataka, including Bengaluru, throughout the weekend.
Bengaluru, recorded widespread moderate to heavy rainfall on Thursday. Between 8.30 am and 8.30 pm, Bengaluru city logged 45.9 mm of rain accompanied by thunderstorms. HAL airport registered 6 mm and the Bengaluru Urban automatic station recorded 47.5 mm. Doddathoguru, near Electronics City, reported 55 mm.
According to IMD forecast heavy rainfall will occur at isolated places in Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Yadgir, Koppal, Raichur, Ramanagara and Mandya districts in the next few days.
The southwest monsoon is now expected to extend until mid-October and with little or no break in between, the northeast monsoon is likely to follow immediately. These are expected to last until December. “There may be no break in between,” Puviarasan said.
