E-Paper
Andhra gas leak toll reaches 12; police say situation under control
According to Andhra Medical College principal Dr Sudhakar, 193 people, including 47 children, are undergoing treatment at state-run King George Hospital, and another 100 are being treated at different hospitals in the city.
One more person died due to a gas leakage at a chemical factory in Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam on Friday, taking the toll in the accident to 12.
The leakage of styrene gas at LG Polymers on Thursday also left over 20 people critically ill and temporarily dislocated hundreds who had to be shifted away from the villages surrounding the plant.
Visakhapatnam city police commissioner R K Meena said the situation in the chemical plant was completely under control. Residents of five villages have been evacuated to safer places, and there was no need for people in other villages and residential colonies to be shifted, he said. “There is nothing to worry for the people of Visakhapatnam,” Meena added.
State authorities and officials from LG Polymers said they were investigating what caused the leak of styrene gas, which is toxic and injurious to human health, but a preliminary situation report by district officials said the trigger was a malfunction in equipment, which caused the temperature to rise and the organic compound styrene – normally a liquid – to vaporise.
The people who died on Thursday were identified as: Appala Narsamma (45), Kundana Sriya (6), A Chandramouli (19), Ch Ganga Raju (48), B Narayanamma (35), N Greeshma (9), Meka Krishna Murthy (72), P Varalaxmi (38), N Nani (40), P Shankar Rao (40) and V Nukaraju (60). The twelfth person who was declared dead at Kothavalasa primary health centre was Gangadhara Chowdary (32). “All of them belonged to Venkatapuram and Gopalapatnam villages,” the police commissioner said.
According to Andhra Medical College principal Dr Sudhakar, 193 people, including 47 children, are undergoing treatment at state-run King George Hospital, and another 100 are being treated at different hospitals in the city.
“Those in the KGH are all out of danger. They would be discharged later in the day after they recover completely and after ensuring that the situation in their villages has become normal,” he said.
Panic gripped several villages near the LG Polymers plant at R R Venkatapuram on the outskirts of Visakhapatnam late on Thursday night over reports of fresh fumes with pungent smell emanating from the factory. People descended on streets and tried to leave their villages. The situation was quickly brought under control. The police made announcements on loudspeakers, asking them not to panic and return to their homes.
In a tweet, industries minister Mekapati Gautam Reddy appealed to people not to believe in rumours, but to go only by official announcements.
Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission has taken suo motu cognisance of media reports about the Vizag incident. The commission also issued a notice to the Andhra Pradesh chief secretary, calling for a detailed report in the matter, including on areas such as status of the rescue operation, treatment provided to the affected people, and relief provided by the state authorities to the affected families.
A notice has also been issued to the director general of police, seeking information on the registration of first information reports (FIRs) within four weeks and the status of the investigation.
