‘No one has told us if he’s alive or dead’: Anxious wait for families of those missing since Telangana factory blast

At the government hospital in Sangareddy, a family member of another missing worker, Akhilesh Kumar, said, “It has been only three months since he joined work. He moved to this factory because they were paying him well. We are eagerly waiting for some news.”
While the death toll was 14 Monday night, more bodies were recovered from the rubble Tuesday as rescue operations progressed. Huge portions of the three-storey factory were reduced to debris because of the explosion.

Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, who visited the site Tuesday morning, announced a compensation of Rs 1 crore to be paid jointly by Sigachi and the state government to family members of each of those dead. A compensation of Rs 10 lakh will be given to those critically injured and Rs 5 lakh to those who suffered partial burns. According to rescue teams, several people suffered up to 50% burn injuries.

The Chief Minister, who met family members of the dead, said that inspections will be held at various industrial units to check whether they have complied with safety standards. “A report will be submitted and action will be taken against those responsible for this mishap,” Reddy said.

According to officials of the labour department, the factory where the explosion took place was last inspected in December 2024. “At the time of inspection, we found no fault at the facility. They had fulfilled all the parameters,” said B Raja Gopal Rao, Director, Factories. What appears to have caused the explosion is pressure building up inside the spray dyer which was being operated in the ground floor of the factory.

Sigachi Chemicals manufactures MCC or Microcrystalline Cellulose from wood pulp. MCC is used in the manufacturing of pharmaceutical capsules.

A case has been registered by Telangana police against the company management under sections for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and voluntarily causing grievous hurt.

At the factory, earthmovers were used to remove debris, apart from shovels used by State Disaster Response Force rescuers. Not far from the site, at a government facility in Patancheru, a crowd of relatives searched for those missing.

While 11 people have been declared missing, several people told The Indian Express that they are still oscillating between hope and despair because 25 bodies are yet to be identified. “We have given our blood for testing. We don’t know when the results will come in,” said Rama, a relative of Chotelal who is among those missing.

The district administration has collected blood samples from several people to identify the victims by DNA match.

Latha, wife of another missing person – Bheemrao – said: “We have been told that he is only injured and in ICU. But no one has let us inside the hospital and no one has identified him.” The couple were blessed with a baby recently.

Relatives of some of those who worked at the factory have also started arriving from other states, including Bihar and Jharkhand.

At the time of the explosion, 143 people were at the site, according to officials. Of them, 60 people have been marked as safe. As many as 34 were injured. They are undergoing treatment at various hospitals in the vicinity.

At Dhurva Hospital in Patancheru, Ramesh, a family member of Venkatesh who is among those hospitalised, said, “The doctors have told us that many have inhaled poisonous fumes from the accident site. It will take days for recuperation.”

State government officials said they have arranged for the treatment of all the injured persons, irrespective of the costs, as per the instruction of the Chief Minister.