Boiler blast at Sri City pharma unit kills five workers, injures over 10

Five workers were killed and more than ten others were injured when a boiler exploded at the TIL Healthcare (Tablets India Limited) pharmaceutical manufacturing unit inside the Sri City Special Economic Zone in Satyavedu mandal, Tirupati district, Andhra Pradesh, on Saturday morning. The blast went off at around 8.30 am, during shift change, when night-shift workers were still inside the formulations unit and the morning shift was coming in. Four workers died on the spot. A fifth, Vasu, 32, of Tada, succumbed later while undergoing advanced treatment at a hospital in Chennai. The dead have been identified as Gourab Roy, 35, of West Bengal; Chinna Mastan, 48, of Cherivi village; Ramesh, 52, of Madharapakkam in Tamil Nadu; Mohan, 28, a boiler operator from Naidukuppam in Tamil Nadu; and Vasu. Among the injured was Krishnaveni, 38, who sustained a leg injury and received on-site treatment; her condition is reported to be stable. Survivors described a scene of sudden fire. One worker said he had asked for idlis in the canteen and had just started eating when flames erupted; his chest began burning and his throat felt scorched. Krishnaveni said she was sitting in the canteen when something struck her from above, and she did not know what had happened outside. Tirupati district Collector Dr Venkateswar and Superintendent of Police L. Subbarayudu visited the site and ordered an investigation. A case has been registered, and the Collector said a detailed inquiry would fix responsibility for lapses involving the factory, its personnel or its machinery. The state government announced ex gratia of Rs 50 lakh to each bereaved family, with funeral and medical expenses borne by the government. Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu expressed shock and instructed officials to stand by the affected families. Minister Nara Lokesh expressed grief and directed officials to ensure the best medical care for the injured, while Tirupati MP Maddila Gurumoorthi demanded a thorough investigation. TIL Healthcare director Ajay Kumar expressed condolences and said the company, operating in Sri City for 17 years, had followed safety protocols. The exact cause of the explosion is not yet established; investigators are expected to examine whether it was a technical malfunction, a failure of safety systems, a maintenance lapse or an operational error. But the pattern needs no committee to be visible. Industrial explosions in India's SEZ belt keep killing the same class of people: migrant and contract workers on night and early-morning shifts, far from home. Three of the five dead at Sri City were Tamil Nadu workers. The official response follows a fixed script — condolences, a price list of Rs 50 lakh, a high-level committee — while nobody in management or inspection is ever held personally answerable. SEZs were built as legal exceptions to ordinary labour oversight, sold as ease of doing business. For the families of Gourab Roy, Chinna Mastan, Ramesh, Mohan and Vasu, that ease has been priced at five lives.