At least 11 people died and hundreds fell sick - many of them collapsing on roads and pavements - as they tried to escape toxic styrene vapours leaking from a chemical plant owned by South Korean company LG in the densely populated Gopalapatnam area of Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam.
The state government evacuated 10,000 people living within a radius of 5km of the LG Polymers plant, whose holding company LG Chem was later booked for culpable homicide based on a complaint filed by the revenue officer of Venkatapuram village. Around 800 people were taken to hospitals, many of whom have since been discharged.
“I woke up with a start around 4.30 am and felt some uneasiness in breathing. There was a peculiar stench in the air, as if something was burning in kerosene. My wife woke up, too, and immediately started vomiting," said Dipankar Banerjee, an insurance executive who lives in the area.
Three women in an apartment next door became unconscious even as Banerjee, his wife and 11-year-old son scurried out of their house to join a crowd of people outside covering their noses and mouths to keep out the noxious stench of styrene, a liquid hydrocarbon that can leak at high temperature and evaporate easily into the atmosphere as vapour.
As the fumes spread, many breached the Covid-19 containment zones to take shelter in safer places. Gopalapatnam Society, a red zone, is barely a kilometre from the LG plant. Thousands of people sprinted till they could breathe without inhaling the vapours. Those who could not run called police and disaster response teams for help. Some fell to the ground and lost consciousness. A few fainted inside their homes.
Animals and plants didn't escape the toxic gas assault either. Cattle, dogs, cats and birds were found whimpering or lying still on roads and open spaces. Tree leaves sported a burnt look.
State-run buses were used to shift the affected to hospitals. More than 25 ambulances and fire engines were involved in the rescue operation. Sources said around 5,000 people broke out in rashes after inhaling the styrene vapours. Almost everyone felt a burning sensation in the eyes. At least 10 main hospitals, including King George Hospital, treated hundreds of people for symptoms ranging from breathlessness to severe headache and nausea.
Around 11 am, AP police chief Gautam Sawang said the leak in the chemical plant had been plugged and the vapours that had escaped were "neutralised".
