A pipeline blast and ammonia gas leakage has caused the death of a senior manager at SPY Agros, a private distillery, near Nandyala town in Andhra Pradesh on Saturday.
Four other staff who managed to escape from the spot are fine.
With the Vizag LG Chem styrene leak mishap of 7 May fresh in their memory, people in the adjoining areas were alarmed by the incident.
However, Kurnool collector G Veerapandian, who inspected the site, said that there was no need for the locals to panic. The leak was plugged, and the situation is brought under control, he said.
The deceased is a 50-year-old general manager of the plant Srinivasa Rao.
“The accident occurred inside the unit at about 9:45 AM on Saturday, when after some maintenance work, the production process began. The ammonia pipe blast occurred because of high pressure build-up. Unfortunately, the GM could not move out,” Veerapandian said.
“We could arrest the leak within a few hours. Entire premises and surrounding areas would be sanitized. No need for any worry for the locals,” the collector said.
As a precaution, officials asked locals to be confined to homes and wash face with cold water if they felt any irritation, burning in the eyes.
In the wake of the LG Chem mishap, SPY Agros was also issued notices by the AP pollution control board and the inspector of factories, district officials told DH.
The collector constituted a committee headed by General Manager of the Kurnool District Industries Centre to probe the incident and submit a detailed report within a week.