India: 6 workers killed in factory fire, 13 in hospital with burns

Fire raged through a pharmaceutical factory after an explosion in Andhra Pradesh state in southern India, killing at least six workers on night shift and burning 13 others, police said Thursday.

The fire broke out due to a chemical reactor leaking monomethyl nitric acid — used for manufacturing several types of polymers — which caused an explosion on Wednesday night, Police Officer Rahul Dev Sharma said.

Five workers died on the spot and another succumbed to burns in a hospital. The 13 hospitalized workers were in critical condition as they suffered 80 per cent burns, Sharma said.