Mon, Sep 30, 2024 page12

• Fire halts iPhone factory in India

  CHEMICAL FIRE: 10 Indian employees were injured by smoke inhalation at a Tata Electronics plant in Tamil Nadu state that produces components for Apple Inc

  • Reuters, HOSUR, India
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  At least 10 people received medical treatment, with two hospitalized after a major fire on Saturday disrupted production at a key Tata Electronics Pvt Ltd plant in southern India that makes Apple Inc’s iPhone components.

  The fire occurred at the plant in the city of Hosur in Tamil Nadu state that makes some iPhone components. It broke out near another building inside the Tata complex, which was to begin producing complete iPhones in the coming months.

  The fire was contained to one building and has been extinguished fully, top district administrative official K.M. Sarayu said.

  

  Vehicles pass through the security check at the entrance of a Tata Electronics plant that makes Apple iPhone components in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, India, on Saturday.

  Photo: Reuters

  No decision has been made on when manufacturing could restart, she said.

  “Fumes are still coming since it’s a chemical hazard. It will take time for the search and rescue team to go inside and do an assessment. We have to wait till tomorrow,” she added.

  Sarayu said that 523 workers were on shift when the fire broke out in the early morning and that all workers had been evacuated and accounted for.

  Savitri, an eyewitness who lives near the plant and only gave her first name, said she heard “loud sounds around 5:30am that sounded like crackers going off. After that, we just saw plumes of smoke from the building, and there was thick smoke till at least 10 in the morning.”

  The fire began in an area used to store chemicals, a fire official said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media.

  Tata Electronics is one of the major contract makers of iPhones in India, along with Foxconn Technology Group (富士康).

  The company said it was investigating the cause of the fire and would take the necessary steps to safeguard employees and other stakeholders.

  “Our emergency protocols at the plant ensured that all employees are safe,” a Tata Electronics spokesperson said.

  It was not yet possible to say when production at the facility would resume, as “we will need to go in to understand more, depending on the damage,” J. Saravanan, a senior district official charged with handling industrial safety, said.

  He said the injuries were all related to smoke inhalation but gave no further detail.

  Production was halted and employees were sent home for the day following the fire, a person with direct knowledge of the incident said, describing the blaze as chemical-related.

  It was not yet clear if a neighboring building where smartphone manufacturing was due to start by year-end had also been affected, a second industry source said.

  With the facility inaccessible at the moment, an assessment of damage from the fire would have to be done later, the source said.

  Apple made no immediate comment on the incident.

  Last year, Apple supplier Foxlink Group (正崴) halted production at its assembly facility in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh after a massive fire led part of the building to collapse.
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