Gas leak at Dr Reddy's lab kills 2 employees

Hyderabad: A gas leak at Dr Reddy's drug manufacturing unit in Hyderabad caused the death of two employees - Sreedhar Reddy, a chemist and Deepak Kumar Jena, a contract worker, on Tuesday night.

The accidental leak of nitrogen gas took place in unit three of Dr Reddy's facility for manufacture of Omeprazole drug.

"There is some leakage of nitrogen. It is thought of primarily, this may have caused inhalation and instant death," said the investigating officer Sivaramakrishna.

The police learnt about the incident from the hospital where those affected were taken. Employees say they themselves were kept in the dark about the deaths till much later.

"Deepak was the only son of his parents. They do give us masks for safety but inhalation causes instant death. Maintenance in the facility is poor," said Ajay Kumar, a contract employee.

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The police have registered case of causing death due to negligence and also under section 22, for employees liability for compensation, under the Dangerous Machines regulation Act.