An explosion at Escientia Advanced Sciences in Andhra Pradesh, India, has led to the death of at least 17 people. According to Sreenivas Janyala for The Indian Express, seven people where working on the first floor of the facility when the explosion occurred, killing them instantly. The other workers, who were on the floor below, were killed when the walls collapsed on them. The deceased workers include an associate director, a general manager, an assistant manager, senior executives, trainee engineers, biologists, equipment operators, a painter, and a member of the housekeeping staff.

Al Jazeera is reporting that nearly 40 more people were injured in the incident. Fortunately, the explosion occurred during lunchtime at the factory, so many workers were able to escape unharmed. 

Omer Farooq for the Associated Press is reporting that hundreds of people from families of workers rushed to the plant, which produces intermediate chemicals and active pharmaceutical ingredients.

According to Rishika Sadam and Shivam Patel for Reuters, the explosion and subsequent fire was caused by a chemical solvent leak. The team obtained an internal government report that detailed exactly what happened. The chemical solvent leaked from the first floor to the floor below. The explosion occurred “due to the heavy solvent vapor cloud at the power panel area in the ground floor.” Srinivasa Rao Korada, CFO of the Escientia Group, told Reuters that workers were attempting to plug the chemical leak when the explosion occurred. "Workers had noticed that leak, they were attending to it, and had almost plugged the leak when this happened," he said.