One person died on the spot and four others were affected due to an ammonia gas leak from a pipeline at SPY Agro Industries Limited at Nandyal in the district on Saturday. Fire tenders controlled the gas leak after struggling for three hours.
The deceased was identified as Srinivasa Rao, 50, the manager of the factory. The four other workers who inhaled the gas were safe, District Collector G. Veerapandian said. They were identified as Thimma Reddy, Tirumala, Ravi and Adinarayana.
The incident took place between 9.45 a.m. and 10 a.m. when they were restarting the factory after maintenance. Immediately all the persons working on the factory premises were vacated.
‘Stay indoors’
The Collector said the fire-fighting personnel were on the job of controlling the leak and there was no need for panic. The gas came out due to a blast in a high-pressure pipeline and it was controlled immediately. There was no danger to others, he said and advised the people in the vicinity to remain indoors and wash their face and eyes with cold water if they felt any irritation.
The Collector said the manager could not rush out of the factory after inhaling the gas while the others managed to come out and were safe. He presented the four affected workers before the media.
Probe panel
A committee headed by DIC General Manager Somasekhar Reddy was constituted by the Collector to probe the reasons behind the leak. APPCB Executive Engineer, Nandyal RDO, APIIC Zonal Manager, Inspector of Factories, District Fire Officer, and Deputy Commissioner of Labour are on the panel.
They have been asked to go into all aspects of safety violations, which could have led to the gas leak, and submit a report at the earliest.
Safety committee
After the LG Polymers gas leak incident in Visakhapatnam, the Collector had constituted a committee with Inspector of Factories, Electricity Department and the AP Pollution Control Board officials to advise and check for the likely hot spots for such gas leak incidents and take precautionary measures to prevent any leak.
Superintendent of Police Fakkeerappa Kaginelli, Nandyal MP Pocha Bhrahmananda Reddy, Nandyal MLA Shilpa Ravichandra Kishore Reddy and Joint Collector Ravi Pattan Shetty inspected the factory.
