Telangana factory blast: 5 workers from Odisha still missing, DNA matching to be undertaken

Bhubaneswar/Berhampur (Odisha): While four workers from Odisha are among those killed in the Telangana factory blast, five others from the eastern state are still missing, prompting their relatives to reach the spot for DNA matching with unidentified bodies, officials said on Thursday.

While relatives of four missing persons have given DNA samples for matching, kin of the fifth person will reach the southern state during the day.

Among the missing persons, two are from Nabarangpur district, two from Ganjam and one from Cuttack. The bodies of the deceased have also reached their native places in Odisha.

So far, 38 people have been killed and several others injured in a powerful blast at a pharmaceutical plant in Pashamylaram in Telangana's Sangareddy district on June 30.

"The local administration informed us that 143 people were working in the factory when the blast took place. Some people from Odisha were working in different sections. Of them, four were killed, four injured, among whom one is serious, and five others are still missing," Pritish Panda, Officer on Special Duty (OSD), Directorate of Odisha Parivaar told PTI over the phone.

The deceased from Odisha have been identified as R Jaganmohan from Chatrapur area in Ganjam district, Lagnajit Duari from Tigiria area in Cuttack district, Manoj Rout from Simulia in Balasore district and Dolagovind Sahu from Dharmasala in Jajpur district, he said.

The injured persons were Samir Padhi of Ganjam district, Chandan Kumar Nayak of Bhadrak, Nilambar Bhadra of Nabarangpur and Chitrasen Batra. Among the injured persons, Samir Padhi is in serious condition with 35 per cent burn injuries and he is in the ICU, the officer said.

Panda, along with another officer, are in Sangareddy district to extend necessary support to the people from the state.

He said the bodies of people from Odisha have been sent to their native places in ambulances.

The body of Jaganmohan (56) reached his residence in Chhatrapur area of Ganjam district on Wednesday.

Locals, relatives and Chhatrapur MLA Krushna Chandra Nayak and officials of the Labour Department visited his home and expressed condolences to the family members.

His wife Vijayalaxmi (50) and two sons, who have been living in Hyderabad for over two decades, also accompanied the body in the ambulance. They performed the last rites of the deceased as per tradition.

Jaganmohan was working in the accounts section in the factory for over two decades. He was inside the plant for an inspection when the explosion took place, said R Sai Yashwanth, elder son of the deceased.

"We immediately rushed to the plant but saw only his charred body," he said.

The body was dispatched from Hyderabad on Tuesday and it reached Odisha early on Wednesday. The Telangana government provided Rs 1 lakh as assistance to perform the last rites, he said.

Samir Padhy (24), another victim from Ganjam district, was battling for his life in a hospital in Hyderabad.

Samir, a resident of Baharapur, was working as a machine operator in the factory for the last seven years.

The explosion occurred in the plant just 10 minutes after he entered the plant, said Papu Kumar Choudhuary, Samir's brother-in-law, who was working in the same factory.

"We both entered the plant just 10 to 15 minutes before the blast. I came out of the plant when the first explosion occurred at a distance and survived," said Choudhury (31) of Aska area. He was working in the paper-cutting section of the factory.

"Within a few minutes, the entire area became dark with smoke and several of them could not come out," he said.

Papu said Lagnajit Duari (20) of Tigiria in Cuttack district along with a man from Bihar were working in his section before the blast. They could not come out from the spot and were charred to death.