India gas leak: At least 13 dead after Visakhapatnam accident

[MenInG]

Eight people have died, with hundreds of others taken ill, after a gas leak in south India.

The leak, in the city of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh state, has been traced to the LG Polymers plant.

Doctors say "hundreds" of people have been taken to hospital - many complaining of a burning sensation in the eyes and difficulties breathing.

The incident, which took place around 03:00 local time (21:30 GMT), may have been due to negligence, officials say.

The leak occurred when the plant was being re-opened for the first time since 24 March when India went into lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus.

The state Industries Minister Goutam Reddy told BBC Telugu that it looked as though proper procedures and guidelines were not followed when the plant was being re-opened.

As the gas spread, residents ran out of their homes in panic. Distressing visuals of people fainting and dropping unconscious on the streets are being shared on social media.

Some factory employees are believed to have been inside when the leak occurred, but officials say they have no information about them.

It is feared that the fumes have spread over a radius of about 3km (2 miles) and officials have been evacuating people from surrounding areas.

A senior district official said that initial attempts to control the gas leak were unsuccessful. However, local news agencies have reported that the situation is now under control.

Meanwhile, Rajendra Reddy, a senior official in the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board, told the BBC that the leaked gas was styrene, which is usually refrigerated.

"We are trying to understand the long-term impact of the chemical on those who have inhaled it during the leak," he said.

In the meantime, officials have asked people to protect themselves by covering their faces with a wet cloth.

India has a tragic history of gas leaks.

In 1984, a chemical leak in a plant in the central city of Bhopal killed thousands of people, in what is acknowledged to be the world's worst industrial disaster.

More than 35 years later, victims say children are still being born with disabilities because of the effects of the spill.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-52569636

 

[IndianHero]

8 people died it seems, may god bless those souls.

In India unfortunately safety standards r often compromised in factories, it's in our indian blood to not take things seriously like not following road rules like driving rudely, driving without seatbelts, driving without helmets etc.,

 

[MenInG]

Gas leak at chemical factory in India kills at least nine and hospitalises hundreds

A gas leak at a chemical factory in southern India has killed at least nine people and led to hundreds being taken to hospital, amid warnings that the death toll could climb higher.

Styrene leaked from the Korean-owned LG Polymers plant during the early hours of Thursday morning when families in the surrounding villages were asleep, a local official in Andra Pradesh state said.

The leak was from two 5,000-tonne tanks that had been unattended due to India’s coronavirus lockdown in place since late March, according to a local police officer.

Footage on Indian television channels showed people, including women and children, lying in the streets of Visakhapatnam, an industrial port city halfway between Kolkata and Chennai on India’s east coast.

Swarupa Rani, an assistant commissioner of police in Visakhapatnam, said that at least nine people had died and between 300-400 had been hospitalised. Another 1,500 people had been evacuated, mostly from a neighbouring village.

But B K Naik, district hospitals coordinator, said that at least 1,000 people had been sent to different hospitals, and that it was feared many others may be unconscious in their homes.

source Guardian

 

[Mesozoic]

Death toll is likely to go up in the coming hours.

Hope the situation is brought back under control soon.

 

[MenInG]

CHENNAI (Reuters) - A chemical gas leak at an LG Polymers plant in southern India on Thursday killed at least 9 people, and emergency services rushed more than 300 to hospital and evacuated hundreds more from nearby areas, a police official in Andhra Pradesh state said.

South Korean battery maker LG Chemical Ltd, the owner of the facility, located around 14 kilometers away from Visakhapatnam city, said the gas leak had been brought under control.

“We are looking into the exact damages, cause of the death and details of the incident,” the company said in a statement.

The commissioner of the Visakhapatnam city corporation said styrene leaked from the plant during the early hours of the morning, when families in the surrounding villages were asleep.

Srijana Gummalla, Commissioner, Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation, told Reuters that the plant had been reopened in the past few days after India relaxed a nationwide lockdown, that had been imposed on March 25 to contain the spread of the new coronavirus.

Swarupa Rani, an Assistant Commissioner of Police in Visakhapatnam told Reuters that at least 9 people had died and between 300-400 were hospitalised. Another 1,500 people had been evacuated, mostly from a neighbouring village.

Areas within an approximately 3-kilometer (nearly 2-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 an interview with local news channel NDTV, S.N. Pradhan, director general of the National Disaster Response Force, said the situation is now under control at the site.

“The gas leakage has been stopped and the quantities should now be more manageable and we should be able to evacuate people to safety,” said Pradhan.

Local revenue official B. V. Rani said she got a call at around 4 a.m. Thursday from a panicking police sub-inspector near the facility. “He asked me to come to the spot immediately,” Rani told Reuters.

When Rani went there, she saw that people had collapsed unconscious in the village adjoining the 60-acre site of the plant.

“I personally helped more than 15 people get to an ambulance who had tried to run away from the village but dropped down a few metres away,” she said.

Video from Reuters partner ANI shot later on Thursday showed emergency workers in the area rushing to help victims, some of whom appeared to be listless and disoriented.

A number of victims lay unconscious streetside, as some volunteers fanned them and others rushed to carry them into ambulances.

At least one child was among the dead, a policeman at the site told ANI, and video showed at least two other children being lifted into an ambulance.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that he had spoken to officials from the federal home ministry and the National Disaster Management Authority, who were monitoring the crisis.

“I pray for everyone’s safety and well-being in Visakhapatnam,” Modi said in a tweet.

Thursday’s incident evoked memories of a gas leak at an factory of U.S. chemical firm Union Carbide that killed thousands in the central Indian city of Bhopal in 1984.

LG Chem, South Korea’s top petrochemical maker by capacity, took over the facility previously owned by Hindustan Polymers and renamed it as LG Polymers India Private Limited (LGPI) in July, 1997, according to a company website.

The LG Polymers plant makes polystyrene products, according to a company website, which are used in manufacturing electric fan blades, cups and cutlery and containers for cosmetic products such as make up.

The raw material, styrene, is highly flammable and releases a poisonous gas when burnt.

In a statement, LG Chem said that the gas emitted in the leak can cause nausea and dizziness when inhaled, adding that it was seeking to ensure casualties received treatment quickly.

LG Chem operates two naphtha crackers in South Korea, with a total ethylene output capacity of 2.5 million tonnes each year.

It also makes electric vehicle batteries and General Motors and Volkswagen are among its customers.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...ills-nine-hundreds-hospitalised-idUSKBN22J092

 

[Varun]

8 is hardly the number. This is almost like the Bhopal gas tragedy looking at videos of the city right now.

As if Covid-19 wasn't enough.

 

[GBK_Fan]

Scary scenes from Vizag on social media. Hopefully the death toll does not increase much

 

[last_knight]

Stay safe everyone.

 

[IndianHero]

Don't worry guys situation is under control, I am from vizag & I am living in my vizag now and I live around 5 km from factory where it is leaked.

Locals (who work in the factory) say that bcoz of sudden lockdown for 40 days, styrene (C8H8) is left over in the gas pipelines. Today the company was planning to start operations so last night itself few employees wanted to check every thing and by mistake gas got leaked.

Now gas is not leaking and people who admitted in hospital r recovering/discharging from hospital

 

[Mesozoic]

Don't worry guys situation is under control, I am from vizag & I am living in my vizag now and I live around 5 km from factory where it is leaked.

Locals (who work in the factory) say that bcoz of sudden lockdown for 40 days, styrene (C8H8) is left over in the gas pipelines. Today the company was planning to start operations so last night itself few employees wanted to check every thing and by mistake gas got leaked.

Now gas is not leaking and people who admitted in hospital r recovering/discharging from hospital

Thank god. Stay safe brother.

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

Don't worry guys situation is under control, I am from vizag & I am living in my vizag now and I live around 5 km from factory where it is leaked.

Locals (who work in the factory) say that bcoz of sudden lockdown for 40 days, styrene (C8H8) is left over in the gas pipelines. Today the company was planning to start operations so last night itself few employees wanted to check every thing and by mistake gas got leaked.

Now gas is not leaking and people who admitted in hospital r recovering/discharging from hospital

8 people have already lost their lives because of those idiots. They should be put behind the bars.

 

[Kaptan]

These MNC's make millions of dollars from India and yet the safety standards in their factories are not even 50% of what they have in Europe, America or even China.
Our poor safety law combined with "chalta hai" attitude is responsible for incidents like these.

 

[Varun]

Don't worry guys situation is under control, I am from vizag & I am living in my vizag now and I live around 5 km from factory where it is leaked.

Locals (who work in the factory) say that bcoz of sudden lockdown for 40 days, styrene (C8H8) is left over in the gas pipelines. Today the company was planning to start operations so last night itself few employees wanted to check every thing and by mistake gas got leaked.

Now gas is not leaking and people who admitted in hospital r recovering/discharging from hospital

Ah, all is well then.

Seriously - did they land their jobs because of some reservation quota?

 

[IndianHero]

8 people have already lost their lives because of those idiots. They should be put behind the bars.

Ah, all is well then.

Seriously - did they land their jobs because of some reservation quota?

Guys u know how things work in India right ? Don't expect much serious things to happen..

Govt. will announced money of 1 CR to dead , 10 Lakh to ppl who r on ventilator , 10,000 to every family in the core area where virus got leaked. So, people will not make much fuss about this.

LG (South Korean) company management will bribe some hefty amount to local government politicians and these politicians will put up some drama for few days & after few months company will start its operations and everything is back to normal.

Sadly human life has no value in India. This is the painful truth.

 

[GBK_Fan]

Ah, all is well then.

Seriously - did they land their jobs because of some reservation quota?

Classy mate. Superb stuff

 

[Bhaijaan]

Don't worry guys situation is under control, I am from vizag & I am living in my vizag now and I live around 5 km from factory where it is leaked.

Locals (who work in the factory) say that bcoz of sudden lockdown for 40 days, styrene (C8H8) is left over in the gas pipelines. Today the company was planning to start operations so last night itself few employees wanted to check every thing and by mistake gas got leaked.

Now gas is not leaking and people who admitted in hospital r recovering/discharging from hospital

Thamk goodness.

Stay safe brother

 

[Abdullah719]

India gas leak: At least 13 dead after Visakhapatnam incident

Spoiler

At least 13 people have been killed by a massive gas leak at a chemical plant in southern India, with hundreds of others taken to hospital.

The leak from the LG Polymers plant in the city of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh state came as people slept.

Doctors say patients have been complaining of a burning sensation in the eyes and difficulties breathing.

Areas around the plant have been evacuated. The leak may have been due to negligence, officials say.

Reports suggest initial attempts to control the gas leak were unsuccessful but the company and state officials say the situation is now under control.

LG said in a statement it was investigating the cause of the incident, and was looking at ways "to provide speedy treatment" for those affected.

Rajendra Reddy, a senior official in the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board, told the BBC that the leaked gas was styrene, which is usually refrigerated.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called an emergency disaster meeting.

'My eyes were itchy'
The leak took place at around 03:00 local time (21:30 GMT Wednesday) as the plant was being re-opened for the first time since 24 March, when India went into lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus.

"All those who have been hospitalised are currently stable," BK Naik, a local health official, told Reuters news agency. Some reports said patients were unconscious, or on ventilators.

The state Industries Minister Goutam Reddy told BBC Telugu that it looked as though proper procedures and guidelines were not followed when the South Korean-owned plant was being re-opened.

"We would like the company to proactively respond to the incident and ensure that the same level of responsibility is taken if this incident were to happen in EU or United States," he said, adding that the incident had been reported to the Korean embassy.

Swaroop Rani, a senior police official in Visakhapatnam, told AFP that the plant had been left idle because of the lockdown.

"[The gas] was left there because of the lockdown. It led to a chemical reaction and heat was produced inside the tanks, and the gas leaked because of that."

Local villagers complained around 03:30 and police immediately went to the scene, but had to quickly retreat for fear of being poisoned, the news agency quoted her as saying.

"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.

As the gas spread, residents ran out of their homes in panic. Distressing images of people fainting and dropping unconscious on the streets are being shared on social media.

"My eyes were itchy, and I was feeling drowsy, light-headed and slightly breathless," Yashwanth Saikumar Ambati, who lives about 300 metres from the plant, told Reuters.

Officials said the fumes had spread over a radius of about 3km (2 miles) and people from surrounding areas were evacuated.

Although a large number have been admitted to hospital, most should be able to make a recovery, they added.

Pungent smell and burning eyes
Vijay Shankar, BBC News Telugu

A loud banging on the front door woke me up at 03:30. My wife and I rushed to the door, and found our neighbours outside, looking agitated.

"There has been an explosion at Polymers! Leave immediately," they told us.

I could see people running on the road outside. I spotted my landlord, who also asked me to leave the house as soon as I could. Just then, I began to smell something pungent in the air. We quickly understood what had happened. The smell became stronger and my eyes began to burn.

My wife, son and I left the house on my motorbike. As we drove down the street, we saw hundreds of people were fleeing their homes. We kept going until we reached Kailasagiri beach, about 20km away.

We only stopped when we couldn't smell the gas any more.

Earlier in the day, district health official Dr Naik said at least 1,000 people had been sent to hospitals and many others were feared to be unconscious in their homes.

"There are people who were sleeping," AFP quoted him as saying. "We are working to get people to the hospital. They need oxygenation and fresh air.

"We are trying to understand the long-term impact of the chemical on those who have inhaled it during the leak."

In the meantime, officials have asked people to protect themselves by covering their faces with a wet cloth. The Indian navy has been helping supply oxygen to patients.

India has a tragic history of gas leaks.

In 1984, a toxic chemical leak in a pesticide plant in the central city of Bhopal killed thousands of people, in what is acknowledged to be the world's worst industrial disaster.

More than 35 years later, victims say children are still being born with disabilities because of the effects of the methyl isocyanate gas spill.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-52569636

 

[Romali_rotti]

My deepest condolences for all that have lost their lives, RIP. I saw footage on Asianet and it was heart breaking to see dead bodies on the road, lost for words...

 

[MenInG]

Gas fumes were reported to be leaking again from a tanker where there was styrene leakage in Visakhapatnam earlier on Thursday, news agency ANI reported.

“Around 50 fire staffers, with NDRF’s support, are carrying out operation. We’ve ordered evacuation of villages in 2-3 km radius for safe side precautions,” Visakhapatnam District Fire Officer Sandeep Anand was quoted as saying.

Ten more fire tenders, including two foam tenders were present at the spot while ambulances have been kept ready for any emergency, he added.

The late night reports come after a chemical gas leakage in the early hours at LG Polymers industry in RR Venkatapuram village of Visakhapatnam claimed 11 lives while hundreds were admitted to hospitals for treatment, and thousands were reported sick.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has announced Rs 1 crore each as compensation to the next of kin of the deceased. Those undergoing treatment on ventilator would get Rs 10 lakh each while others who are hospitalised but not on ventilator, would received Rs 1 lakh each as compensation.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/indi...site-report/story-E4Dv2tG3OAU0mqIwmvsaxJ.html

 

[The Viper]

LG Chem plant in India starts leaking toxic gas again, prompting wider evacuation

Toxic gas began leaking again from a LG Chem plant in southern India’s Andhra Pradesh early on Friday, an official said, triggering a wider evacuation after at least 11 people were killed following a leak at the site less than 24 hours earlier.

“The situation is tense,” N. Surendra Anand, a fire officer in Visakhapatnam district, where the factory is located, told Reuters, adding that people in a 5 kilometer (3.1 miles)radius of the factory were being moved out.

However, Srijana Gummalla, commissioner of the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation, downplayed concerns surrounding vapour emanating from the plant, saying the gas coming out had been fluctuating through the day and had largely subsided.

“The evacuation being carried out is a part of safety precautions we are taking,” she told Reuters.

Around midnight, police started urging people to move out of their houses and into waiting buses, said local resident Sheikh Salim, who lives about 2.5 kms from the plant.

Hours earlier, an LG Chem spokesman in Seoul and federal authorities in New Delhi had said the leak had been contained after hundreds of people were sickened by a toxic gas early on Thursday.

A 3-km radius had been evacuated on Thursday, S.N. Pradhan, director general of the National Disaster Response Force, told reporters in New Delhi.

The factory, operated by LG Polymers, a unit of South Korea’s biggest petrochemical maker LG Chem Ltd, was in the process of reopening after a weeks-long lockdown imposed by Indian authorities to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, local officials and the company said.

The plant makes polystyrene products used in manufacturing electric fan blades, cups and cutlery and containers for cosmetic products.

Gas from styrene, a principal raw material at the plant, leaked during the early hours of the morning, authorities said.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy said in a televised address on Thursday that the gas leak occurred because raw material was stored for a long period of time.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...gain-prompting-wider-evacuation-idUSKBN22J38X

 

[IndianHero]

this was at 2 AM 8th May IST :

<a href="https://ibb.co/rtmr4sT"><img src="https://i.ibb.co/JdKJ5Q0/BDDD9532-F9-D1-4-FDC-8717-A3-A0-A8-F59044.jpg" alt="BDDD9532-F9-D1-4-FDC-8717-A3-A0-A8-F59044" border="0"></a><br />

At 2 am I could smell the gas from my house

To neutralise things they brought some chemical to vizag from gujarat


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Andhra Pradesh: PTBC (Para-tertiary butyl catechol) brought to Visakhapatnam from Gujarat,on an Air India special cargo flight,for neutralizing <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/VizagGasLeak?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#VizagGasLeak</a>. <br><br>Earlier tonight, gas fumes leaked again from the tanker at LG Polymers in Vizag. The leak had y'day claimed 11 lives. <a href="https://t.co/RmpCCUODg5">pic.twitter.com/RmpCCUODg5</a></p>— ANI (@ANI) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1258494851257036800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 7, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Now it is little bit better than at 2 AM (time now is 5 AM 8Th may IST) , there is little bit smell though but not heavy than at 2 AM

Hopefully this chemical worked

 

[Firebat]

Indian police file homicide complaint against LG Chem after deadly leak

CHENNAI, India/SEOUL (Reuters) - Indian police have filed a culpable homicide complaint against an LG Chem subsidiary over a toxic gas leak at its chemical plant in the south of the country that killed 11 people and forced 800 into hospital for treatment from poisoning.

Spoiler

A day after the leak, authorities doubled the evacuation area around the factory in Andhra Pradesh to a 5 kilometre (3 mile) radius, waking residents in the middle of the night and herding them into buses in case more poison should escape.

Police took to the streets with loudhailers to tell residents to leave their homes and board the buses, said Sheikh Salim, a 21 year old fruit seller who lives about 2.5 km from the plant.

A copy of the police complaint filed against the management of LG Chem’s subsidiary LG Polymers, reviewed by Reuters, cited several counts of negligence and culpable homicide.

The report, which precedes a full police investigation and potential charges, refers to negligent handling of poisonous substances and causing hurt and endangering public life. An LG Chem spokesman in Seoul declined to comment on the report.

On Friday the National Green Tribunal, India’s environmenal court, formed a five-member committee to investigate the leak. Authorities said the leak came from styrene, a principal raw material at the plant, which makes polystyrene plastic used in cutlery, cups and packaging for cosmetics.

Residents described being awakened before dawn on Thursday by a cloud of noxious smelling vapour, struggling for breath and suffering pain and itchy eyes. Unconscious victims and the bodies of dead cows lay in the streets.

Though on a smaller scale, the deadly leak revived memories of a gas escape from a factory of U.S. chemical firm Union Carbide in 1984 that killed thousands of people in the central Indian city of Bhopal. That incident caused a national trauma and made Indians bitterly sensitive to lax safety standards at foreign-owned factories.

LG Chem, South Korea’s biggest petrochemical firm said on Friday it had asked police to expand the evacuation zone as a “precautionary measure”, because temperatures in storage tanks might rise. “We are taking necessary measures, including putting water into the tank,” the company said in a statement.

N. Surendra Anand, a fire officer in Visakhapatnam district, told Reuters that the expanded evacuation was triggered because more gas had escaped from the plant.

“The situation is tense,” he said.

Srijana Gummalla, commissioner of the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation, said gas emissions had been fluctuating through the day and had largely subsided.

LG Chem shares fell 2.4% in early trade on Friday, before regaining some ground to be down 0.6% against the broader South Korea market’s 1% gain. The stock lost nearly 2% on Thursday.

The factory was in the process of reopening after a weeks-long shutdown imposed by Indian authorities to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, local officials and the company said.

The leak has led to fears of a backlash against Korean businesses in India, where Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor and others have a large presence.

“We are very cautious and keeping a low profile,” an official at Korea International Trade Association in India said.

The trade body on Thursday sent a letter to member companies calling for “thorough” maintenances to prevent accidents, as companies prepare to reopen plants following the relaxation.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...ainst-lg-chem-after-deadly-leak-idUSKBN22J38X

 

[MenInG]

Angry protesters carrying bodies stormed an Indian chemical plant on Saturday to demand the facility's closure after a toxic gas leak killed 12 people days earlier.

Thursday's pre-dawn accident in the industrial port city of Visakhapatnam injured hundreds and knocked many unconscious as they tried to flee the area.

State government officials arrived to conduct a safety tour of the plant, owned by South Korea's LG Chem, when a crowd of about 300 people barged past police and security guards.

Some helped cart stretchers bearing three victims of the disaster, their feet sticking out from under the black canvas covers that otherwise shrouded the bodies.

They chanted slogans demanding justice for the dead and the shutdown of the plant before they were pushed back by security.

Relatives of the dead stood nearby, many in tears, while others relived the horror of the sudden accident.

"I saw people carrying their children on their shoulders looking for water. They could not move because of the gas, I thought they were dead," said one man.

At least three children were among the dead and dozens remain in hospital.

Andhra Pradesh state police chief Gautam Sawang said the situation at the facility was now "under control".

Authorities have started a manslaughter investigation over the leak and India's environmental tribunal has already fined the company $6.2m as a preliminary punishment.

Late on Thursday, an evacuation zone around the plant was widened and hundreds more people were moved to safety after fears of a new leak. Some have since been allowed to return.

Police said the plant had been left idle because of India's nationwide coronavirus lockdown and suspect the leak was caused by gas left in a tanker that overheated.

LG Chem confirmed the polystyrene plant was not operating at the time of the accident but insisted there were maintenance staff at the facility.

The disaster has evoked memories of a major leak at a gas plant in the Indian city of Bhopal that killed at least 3,500 people in 1984.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...ry-bodies-gas-leak-plant-200509165455395.html

 

[MenInG]

VISAKHAPATNAM, India (Reuters) - A clogged cooling system was the likely cause of a temperature surge in a storage tank which led to a gas leak at a chemical plant in India, killing 12 people, three state government investigators told Reuters.

They said workers at LG Polymers, a unit of South Korea’s LG Chem near the southern city of Visakhapatnam, did not use a warning system to alert local residents but informed company management after the leak in the early hours of May 7.

The three investigators asked not to be named as they are not authorised to publicly discuss the investigation, launched by the government of Andhra Pradesh state.

LG Polymers said the situation at the plant was now under control but it, and LG Chem, did not respond to detailed questions from Reuters for this article.

About 800 people taken to hospital after the leak, and some were asleep when gas drifted over their homes. Police have filed a culpable homicide complaint against LG Polymers.

When a Reuters witness visited the Venkatapuram village adjoining the plant on Tuesday, leaves on trees exposed to the gas looked shrivelled and had turned brown.

The Andhra Pradesh state government declined to give any details of its investigation.

The three investigators said the temperature inside the oldest of the three storage tanks holding styrene monomer, a raw material used in polystyrene products, rose to over 150 degrees Celsius (302°F), more than six times the permitted level.

“The chiller unit was clogged because of a polymerization process, which occurs when temperature exceeds certain levels,” one of the officials said.

To slow the polymerization process, a chemical reaction that generates heat, styrene monomer must be stored at 20-30 degrees Celsius with a cooling system and chemical compounds, or inhibitors, typically used to keep temperatures under control.

If unchecked, the heat generated from the polymerization process causes the chemical to vaporize.

But the cooling system was clogged and the likely cause of the blockage was a chemical reaction inside the tank holding the styrene monomer, the three investigators said.

The skeletal workforce at the facility overnight was unable to bring the situation under control, they said.

“When temperatures started rising, the staff at the plant were not able to use the cooling system,” one said.

LG Polymers said in a statement on Thursday that it planned to ship remaining styrene monomer inventories to South Korea.

“The team of production, environment, and safety experts are currently investigating the cause of the incident,” it said.

The team would work with authorities “to analyse the cause of the incident, prevent a recurrence, and support damage recovery.”

Company officials told investigators the temperature within the storage tank was in the allowed range till temperature rapidly rose early on May 7, the three officials said.

Experts say it generally takes weeks for the temperature in a Styrene monomer storage to rise to up to 65 degrees, before a runaway polymerization process occurs, leading to the liquid chemical reaching its boiling point of 145 degrees in minutes.

But conditions in parts of a storage tank - such as corners or the surface - could provide an environment or “localized hotspots” where the process can accelerate, and subsequently lead to a rapid escalation in temperature.

One of the officials said they were investigating the possibility of a localized hotspot at the surface.

Control operations were hampered by a lack of inhibitors to slow a runaway polymerization process in the event of a cooling system failure, two other investigators said.

The factory had been in the process of re-opening after a weeks-long nationwide lockdown imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Workers said they first noticed a dense vapour near the base of one of the plant’s three storage units and sprinkled water on it, but minutes later spotted thick smoke coming out of the top of the same storage unit.

One of the investigators said the gas leak was a result of a lack of safety precautions.

“It was clearly a crime of omission,” he said.

 

[MenInG]

At least two workers have been killed and four others sickened by gas that leaked from a pharmaceutical plant in an Indian industrial city where another fatal gas leak occurred last month.

"The fire brigade immediately reached the scene and plugged the leak," police commissioner Rajeev Kumar Meena said of the incident that occurred at approximately 2am on Tuesday (20:30 GMT on Monday) at the Sainor Life Sciences pharmaceutical plant in Visakhapatnam in India's Andhra Pradesh state.

The injured workers were hospitalised and in stable condition, authorities said.

"Six people working at the plant inhaled the toxic gas. Two died on the scene while four others are being treated at a hospital," local police officer Udaya Kumar said by phone.

The unit was shut down immediately after the leak as a precautionary measure, and the gas had not spread in nearby areas, police said.

Benzimidazole, a chemical compound found in many antifungal and antiparasitic drugs that contains cancer-causing benzene, was released in a gas form, Meena said.

An investigation was ordered to establish the cause of the leak.

On May 7, another industrial accident in the same city killed 12 people in the community around a plastics factory, and about 1,000 others were hospitalised due to exposure to gas.

Styrene gas leaked from the LG Polymers' plant in Visakhapatnam as workers restarted the plant after a six-week coronavirus lockdown ended.

The latest incident is likely to add more grist to local public demand for closure of hazardous industries that are within city limits, or their relocation to safer areas.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...-leak-india-pharma-plant-200630094338174.html

 

[MenInG]

Indian police have arrested 12 LG Polymers officials, including its South Korean chief executive, an officer said, two months after a gas leak at the company's south India chemical plant killed 12 and injured hundreds.

The arrests were made under a case of culpable homicide filed against the company's South Korean parent, LG Chem Ltd, when the leak occurred in May, police commissioner Rajiv Kumar Meena said on Wednesday.

"A total of 12 members including the CEO and two directors were arrested on Tuesday evening," Meena, the top officer in the port city of Visakhapatnam where the plant is located, said.

Among those arrested were two directors, one of whom was a South Korean, Meena said.

Toxic styrene gas leaked from the chemical plant on May 7, choking many people who were sleeping.

This week, a government-appointed committee recommended that the plant be shifted away from human habitation and called for action against the top employees.

The leak took place around 2:30am on a Thursday when most people were asleep.

Footage on Indian television channels showed people, including women and children, slumped motionless in the streets after residents raised the alarm in the early hours.

"There was utter confusion and panic. People were unable to breathe, they were gasping for air. Those who were trying to escape collapsed on the roads - kids, women and all," resident Kumar Reddy told local media.

Police said that styrene gas leaked out of two 5,000-tonne tanks which had been left unattended as the factory was closed for 40 days during India's lockdown.

They said that heat produced inside the tanks was released soon after the factory reopened.

According to officials, a blanket of gas spread over a radius of about three kilometres (1.9 miles), sickening people in at least four villages.

Rescuers broke open the doors of village homes that were locked from the inside and found some people who had collapsed and transported them to hospitals.

At least 800 were taken to hospital with breathing difficulties and irritated skin. The leak was stopped by 8am, officials said.

The incident echoed one of the worst industrial disasters in history when gas leaked from a pesticide plant in the central Indian city of Bhopal in 1984.

About 3,500 people died in the days that followed and thousands more in the following years. People still suffer its after-effects now.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...h-korean-ceo-12-gas-leak-200708063228089.html