Death toll in factory explosion in India rises to 17

An explosion at a pharmaceutical factory in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday killed 17 people and injured 34, police said.

District police chief M. Deepika said investigators suspected the explosion was caused by a “gas leak … which eventually hit an electrical panel.”

“Rescue operations have been completed” at Escientia Advanced Sciences in Anakapalli district, she said, and all people have been accounted for.

Another police officer, M. Buchaiah, told the Indian Express According to a daily newspaper, people suffered terrible chemical burns in the explosion.

“It was horrible and heartbreaking,” he told the newspaper. “They were screaming before they lost consciousness.”

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences in a post on social media site X.

“I am saddened by the loss of life due to an accident at a factory in Anakapalli,” he wrote. “My condolences to the people who lost their loved ones.” He announced compensation of $2,380 for the families of those killed.

The state government has ordered an investigation into the explosion.

At least two people were killed and five others injured last year when a fire broke out in the solvent reactor of a Sahithi Pharma factory in the same district.

This report uses material from Agence France-Presse and Reuters.