Vizag gas leak: 11 dead, 1000 affected; case filed against polymer factory

Visakhapatnam/ New Delhi: 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 the multinational LG Polymers Plant at R R Venkatapuram village near here, scores of people could be seen lying unconscious on sidewalks, near ditches and on the road, raising fears of a major industrial disaster. Among the dead were two children, aged six and nine, a first-year medical student and two people who fell into a well while fleeing the vapours from the plant, getting ready to reopen after the lockdown.

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

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

The death toll from the accident could go up with at least 20 people on ventilator support. Besides, 246 people with health complications are undergoing treatment at Visakhapatnam's King George Hospital, police said.

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

A preliminary report by the Factories Department indicated the leak was caused by a technical glitch in the refrigeration unit attached to the two styrene tanks, district officials said.

There was a thick fog. "Only around 9.30 am that we could understand what exactly it was after the fog over the area cleared," District Collector V Vinay Chand said.

As much as 1,800 tonnes of styrene is said to have been in the storage tank when the leakage happened.

Styrene gas, used to make polystyrene plastics, fibreglass, rubber, and latex, affects the central nervous system, throat, skin, eyes and some other parts of the body.

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

"I pray for everyone's safety and well-being in Visakhapatnam," Modi said in a tweet.

President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu also expressed their distress and condoled the loss of lives.

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