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Hundreds in hospital after deadly gas leak at Indian chemical factory Hundreds exposed to gas after deadly leak at Indian chemical factory
(about 7 hours later)
Gas from LG Polymers plant in Andhra Pradesh leaked into nearby homes while families sleptGas from LG Polymers plant in Andhra Pradesh leaked into nearby homes while families slept
A gas leak at a chemical factory in south-east India has killed at least nine people, including two children, and led to hundreds being taken to hospital, with fears the death toll could grow. At least 11 people have been killed and hundreds more taken to hospital after a gas leak at a chemical factory in south-east India.
Styrene from the plastics plant owned by Korea’s LG Corp started leaking into the surrounding residential area from about 3am on Thursday morning, incapacitating some people in their homes and causing others to collapse in the streets in the area on the outskirts of Visakhapatnam city on India’s east coast. A plastics plant owned by South Korea’s LG Corp started leaking styrene into the surrounding residential area at about 3am on Thursday. Some people were enveloped as they slept, while others collapsed in the streets as they tried to flee the area on the outskirts of the coastal city of Visakhapatnam.
Police said the leak was from two 5,000-tonne tanks that had been unattended since India imposed a coronavirus lockdown in late March, though a spokesman for LG said maintenance staff were present at the facility when the accident occurred. Officials said the leak was from two 5,000-tonne tanks and happened as workers were preparing to restart the facility after a coronavirus lockdown was eased. A blanket of gas spread over a radius of about 3km (1.8 miles), sickening people in at least four villages.
Footage from the area around the plant showed people, including children, lying in the streets, and dead cows with white substances trailing from their noses. News of the leak triggered a mass exodus and some appeared to have collapsed as they were trying to flee the area on foot or by motor-scooters. “Our initial information is that workers were checking a gas storage tank when it started leaking. Only a thorough investigation will reveal what exactly happened,” said the industries minister, M Goutham Reddy.
One of the victims, a medical student, was overcome with fumes and fell from his balcony, said Dr Surendra Kumar Chellarapu, a neurosurgeon at the local King George’s hospital. Hundreds of people were admitted to hospital with symptoms of gas exposure. Police charges have been filed against LG Corp for negligence and culpable homicide.
“He woke up gasping for breath and rushed out onto the balcony of his room for air. But he lost his balance and fell two floors down from the balcony. He died later at the hospital of head injuries,” Chellarapu said. MG Reddy, 38, who lives with his wife and two sons 500 metres from the factory, said he woke at about 4am to a burning sensation in his eyes. He presumed the government was spraying the area with disinfectant for coronavirus and so went back to sleep.
He said ambulances were lining up at the hospital on Thursday morning with affected people. “Most were suffering from vomiting, eye irritation, skin rashes and breathing problems but most are out of danger,” he said. “But by 6am everyone in the village was screaming and running, so I also took my family and ran,” said Reddy. “I saw so many people collapsing in the street or screaming that their eyes were burning. I saw many people lying in the road but I could not think about rescuing anyone, I could only think of saving my family.”
The hospital was already struggling with Covid-19 patients and would be severely strained by the leak, he added. Video footage showed pavements and roads littered with limp bodies, and screaming parents carrying seemingly lifeless children in their arms as they ran.
Swarupa Rani, an assistant commissioner of police in Visakhapatnam, said officers who rushed to the scene had to quickly retreat for fear of being poisoned. “One could feel the gas in the air and it was not possible for any of us to stay there for more than a few minutes,” she said.
By late morning, police were going door to door to houses near to the factory to pull unconscious bodies from beds.
K Anitha, 22, said she had emerged from her house and “simply could not understand why people are lying down on the ground”. Moments later, she felt a burning sensation in her eyes and throat and began vomiting and swiftly fell unconscious. “I was in the hospital when I woke up,” she said.
Divya, a doctor at King George’s hospital, where the victims were brought in their hundreds, described scenes of chaos. “One after another there was a flood of victims brought in unconscious. Some of them were even vomiting blood,” she said.
One of the victims, a medical student, was overcome with fumes and fell from his balcony, said Dr Surendra Kumar Chellarapu, a neurosurgeon at King George’s hospital. “He woke up gasping for breath and rushed out on to the balcony of his room for air. But he lost his balance and fell two floors down from the balcony. He died later at the hospital of head injuries.”
Acute exposure to styrene gas causes respiratory and neurological symptoms and is lethal in extremely high doses. “Most were suffering from vomiting, eye irritation, skin rashes and breathing problems but most are out of danger,” said Chellarapu.
Several doctors at the hospital voiced concern that the influx of patients would lead to coronavirus being spread among victims and doctors, with the area already a containment zone.
“It was like an avalanche of the victims being rushed to various wards here in ambulances, cars and even on two-wheelers,” said Adarsh, a doctor at King George’s hospital. “We did not have time to put on the PPE, we simply had to jump in to save the victims.”
A general surgeon at King George’s hospital, Dr N Dwarakanath, said that of about 300 patients there, most were older, more than 40 were children and 15 were on ventilators.A general surgeon at King George’s hospital, Dr N Dwarakanath, said that of about 300 patients there, most were older, more than 40 were children and 15 were on ventilators.
But B K Naik, the district hospitals coordinator, said at least 1,000 people had been sent to different hospitals, and that it was feared many others may be unconscious in their homes. Lakshmi, who was among those being treated at the hospital, began sobbing uncontrollably when she awoke and learned her mother was among the dead. “I don’t know how I got here,” she said. “There was a pungent smell, I felt uneasy and then I fainted.”
“Another thing is that it is still too early in the morning, and there are people who were sleeping inside their homes [around the gas leak] and are unconscious,” Naik told Agence France-Presse. LG Corp released a statement late on Thursday morning indicating that gas had stopped leaking from the plant. “We would like to express our deepest condolences to the deceased and their families,” it said. “We have mobilised our technical teams to work with the investigating authorities to arrive at the exact cause of the incident.”
“The authorities are checking [in houses] as well. We are working to get people to the hospital. They need oxygenation and fresh air.” Visakhapatnam is an industrial port city halfway between Kolkata and Chennai, and has about 5 million residents. The wider region has a cluster of chemical factories, about which environmentalists have regularly raised concerns.
Visakhapatnam is an industrial port city halfway between Kolkata and Chennai and has about 5 million residents. The wider region has a cluster of chemical factories, about which environmentalists have regularly raised concerns. EAS Sarma, a former Indian finance secretary who lives a few miles from the residential area where the plant is located, said residents had been raising concerns for years about its safety. “The industrial safety culture in this state is very poor and the regulatory bodies are very lax,” he said.
LG Corp released a statement in South Korea late on Thursday morning indicating gas had stopped leaking from the plant. “The gas leak situation is now under control and we are exploring all ways to provide speedy treatment for those who suffer from inhaling the leaked gas,” the statement said. Indeed, the explosion was one of three which occurred in within hours of each other on Thursday morning as factories across India prepared to resume operations as lockdown restrictions on industry were eased. Seven people were taken to hospital after a gas leak in a paper factory in Chhattisgarh, and another seven were injured when a boiler burst at a coalmining factory in Tamil Nadu.
It confirmed the plant was not operating because of the lockdown, but said there were maintenance staff at the facility. Thursday’s scenes evoked bitter memories of a gas leak from a pesticide plant in the central city of Bhopal in December 1984,on one of the worst industrial disasters in history. About 3,500 people, mainly in shanties around the plant operated by Union Carbide, died in the days that followed and thousands more lost lives in the following years. People continue to suffer the after-effects.
“While it’s true that the factory wasn’t operating as it was under lockdown, there were maintenance workers inside,” a company spokesman told AFP in Seoul. “A worker on night shift discovered the leak and reported it.”
Swarupa Rani, an assistant commissioner of police in Visakhapatnam, said local residents raised the alarm about 3:30am, saying there was gas in the air, and that police officers who rushed to the scene had to quickly retreat for fear of being poisoned.
“One could feel the gas in the air and it was not possible for any of us to stay there for more than a few minutes,” she said.
EAS Sarma, a former Indian finance secretary who lives a few kilometres from the residential area where the plant is located, said residents had been raising concerns for years about its safety.
“The industrial safety culture in this state is very poor and the regulatory bodies are very lax,” he said.
The Visakhapatnam corporation tweeted a request for citizens in the vicinity of the plant to stay indoors. Images posted on Twitter showed emergency services including police officers, firefighters and ambulances in the area.
Areas within an approximately 3km (nearly two-mile) radius of the plant were vulnerable, the municipal corporation said in a tweet. Cross-referencing maps of the affected area, there is at least one coronavirus containment zone in the neighbourhood.
In December 1984, India witnessed one of the worst industrial disasters in history when gas leaked from a pesticide plant in the central city of Bhopal.
About 3,500 people, mainly in shanties around the plant operated by Union Carbide, died in the days that followed and thousands more lost lives in the following years. People continue to suffer the after-effects.
Government statistics say that at least 100,000 people living near the Union Carbide plant have been victims of chronic illnesses.