Gas leak from Vizag chemical plant kills 11, affects 1,000

Gas leaked from a chemical plant in Visakhapatnam in the early hours of Thursday and quickly spread to villages in a five-kilometre radius, killing at least 11 people and impacting about 1,000, many collapsing to the ground as they tried to escape the toxic vapours.

Hours after the styrene gas leak around 2.30 am from themultinational L G Polymers Plant at R R Venkatapuram village near here, scoresof people could be seen lying unconscious on sidewalks, near ditches and on theroad, raising fears of a major industrial disaster.

   

Among the dead was a child and two people who fell into aborewell while fleeing the vapours from the plant, getting ready to reopenafter the lockdown.

As rescue officers and police personnel rushed to takepeople to hospital and revive them, many people could be seen gasping forbreath as they staggered their way to safety, dazed and disoriented. Some triedto walk but fell to the ground in a faint.

The death toll from the accident could go up with at least20 people on ventilator support. Besides, 246 people with health complicationsare undergoing treatment at Visakhapatnam’s King George Hospital, police said.

About 800 people in ground zero, R R Venkatapuram village inGopalapatnam, were evacuated and most needed only first aid.

Cries for help broke the silence of the night and manypeople fell unconscious in their sleep, a villager said.

Taking stock of the situation, Prime Minister Narendra Modisaid he had spoken to officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs and theNational Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

“I pray for everyone’s safety and well-being inVisakhapatnam,” Modi said in a tweet.

Addressing a joint press conference in Delhi in theafternoon National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and NDMA officials said 11people died and 1,000 were exposed, to the gas.

NDRF Director General S N Pradhan said leakage from thefactory had been reduced to minimal but NDRF personnel would be at the spottill it is totally plugged.

The gas leak took place as the plastic factory that wasclosed during the lockdown was being prepared for resumption of operations, hesaid.

About 500 people from 200-250 families in a three-kilometreradius were evacuated to safer places.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy hasordered a probe into the matter, state Director General of Police D GautamSawang said.

“How the gas leaked and why the neutraliser at the plant didnot prove effective in containing the leak will all be investigated. Styrene,though, is not a poisonous gas and can be fatal only if inhaled in excessquantity,” Sawang said.

The chief minister also announced Rs 1 crore each as reliefto kin of people killed. Styrene, a chemical used to make synthetic rubber andresins, affects the central nervous system, throat, skin, eyes and some otherparts of the body.

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