‘The fire spread fast and we ran to the fields’

Most of the injured still unconscious as they suffered 40 to 90 per cent burns. The scene in the hospitals where the injured were admitted is no different. Fifty-year-old Annapu Satyanarayana is in a state of shock.

“We woke up to the flames and thought that it could be a fire accident. But the fire spread fast and we ran to the fields out of fear,” said 35-year-old Bonam Seetha Lakshmi, a resident of Nagaram. She said she considered her escape a miracle. “I am unfortunate as I am seeing my dear ones in a pathetic state. I wish to do whatever little help I can do for them to recover,” she said.

“We could smell the gas since the last night. But we did not suspect that it may cause such a tragedy as refinery people release waste gases every now and then,” said T. Seshaveni (40), whose house is located adjacent to the refinery. “When I woke up in the morning, there was a huge fire around us and everyone was in a state of shock. I was on the verge of falling unconscious. Every hut was gutted except mine, as a small canal divided my house from the others,” she said.

Blast leaves fifty-year-old in shock

The scene in the hospitals where the injured were admitted is no different. Fifty-year-old Annapu Satyanarayana is in a state of shock. Sitting in a corner of Apollo Hospitals here on Friday afternoon, he was praying the almighty for his daughter Tatikayala Rajyalakshmi (25) and grand daughter Srija (5), who are undergoing treatment in ICU after suffering severe burns in the gas pipeline blast that took place at Nagaram village in Mamidikuduru mandal in the early hours of Friday.

“I woke up to a phone call stating that there was a gas pipeline explosion near my daughter’s house and both my daughter and grand daughter suffered severe injuries. The caller asked me to go to KIMS Hospital in Amalapuram, close to my village,” said Mr. Satyanarayana, a farmer from D. Ravulapalem village in Allavaram mandal. “After reaching the hospital, I came to know that my son-in-law Satyanarayana and a six-month-old female infant died on the spot,” he said.

Rajyalakshmi and Srija were among the 16 patients who were referred to Kakinada by the doctors at KIMS. They were being admitted to Apollo Hospitals and Trust Hospital here. “My daughter had told me several times that the gas pipeline was dangerous. Even my son-in-law had told me that they kept complaining to the local officials about the pipeline,” recalled Mr. Satyanarayana.

Most of the patients were unconscious as they suffered 40 to 90 per cent burns. The condition of two siblings – Vanarasi Madhusudann (9) and Mohan Venkata Krishna (7) – was slightly better. But it was quite painful to witness their pain. The para-medical personnel were busy arranging ventilators and other equipment for treating the patients while doctors were assessing the physical condition of the victims.

“It is nothing but a massacre and someone should file a murder case against the oil companies responsible for the blast,” said Rekapalli Venkateswara Rao, a farmer from Katrenikona. “What I heard was that the leakage started late in the night and there were sudden flames when a tea vendor lit the stove in the early hours. We don’t know what the employees of the oil companies are doing when there is a continuous gas leakage from the pipeline,” he said.