In Visakhapatnam, toxic gas leak kills 11, sickens over 1,000 

Toxic gas seen leaking from the tanks at the LG Polymers Vizag plant.

New Delhi: At least 11 people, including two children, have reportedly died and over a thousand people fell sick following a leak of styrene gas at LG Polymers’ Visakhapatnam plant in the early hours of Thursday. According to reports, the gas spread in five villages within a three-kilometre radius of the plant.

Hundreds of people were rushed to hospitals in various parts the city for treatment after they complained of breathing difficulties and burning sensation in their eyes and throats.

The worst affected were those living in the RR Venkatapuram area where the plant is located. All the deceased were residents of the area, which is in the Naidu Thota suburb of the Visakhapatnam city.

The deceased have been identified as A Chandramouli, 19; Appala Narasamma, 45; B Narayanamma, 35; Ch Ganga Raju, 48; Kundana Sreya, 6; Meka Krishna Murthy, 72; N Greeshma, 9; N Nani, 40; P Sanakara Rao, 40; P Varalakshmi, 38; and V Nookaraju, 60.

Experts have advised immediate evacuation of the people from the affected area as styrene is a highly toxic chemical and inhaling the gas or coming in contact with it may cause severe short- and long-term health problems. Talking to media, Sunita Narain, the director general at Centre for Science and Environment in New Delhi, said, styrene can be more dangerous if it reacts with oxygen in the air and converts into styrene dioxide.

Styrene is used to make plastics and rubber packaging materials, insulation for electrical wires and appliances, insulation for homes and other buildings, fiberglass, plastic pipes, automobile parts, drinking cups, plates, food packages, etc.

The two tanks from where the toxic gas leaked were left unattended following the nationwide lockdown imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic. It is believed that a chemical reaction inside one of the tanks produced intense heat pressurizing the tanks outwards from inside, which resulted in the leakage.

Police said the management of the plant has been booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and causing death by negligence.

M Goutham Reddy, the Andhra Pradesh industries minister, said the state government is airlifting 500kg of inhibitors to neutralize the toxic chemicals in the leaked gas.

The incident brought back the haunting memories of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, in which nearly 4,000 people died in the immediate aftermath. Many thousands more died in the later months and years because of health complications from exposure. Even children were born with deformities to mothers who had been exposed to the gas.

A probe is on to determine the exact cause of Thursday’s Visakhapatnam gas leak.

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