LG Polymers expresses condolences for Visakhapatnam gas leak, says trying to find exact cause of incident

Hours after the styrene gas leak from the chemical plant at R R Venkatapuram village near Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, the multinational LG Polymers Plant late on Thursday evening expressed their deepest condolences to the deceased and their families. 

The death toll in the gas leak at the chemical plant reached 11 even as over 1,000 people have been affected, some of them critically, due to the leak at around 2.30 am on Thursday. The NDRF DG said, "Total 11 deaths and about 20-25 people critical but stable in Vizag gas leak incident."

In an official statement, the company said that it has mobilized its technical teams to work with the investigating authorities to arrive at the exact cause of the incident. The company said that its top priority is to work closely with the local government and the authorities to ensure medical help is provided to all those who have been affected by the incident. 

"We would like to express our deepest condolences to the deceased and their families. At this moment our top priority is to work closely with the local government and the authorities to ensure medical help is provided to all those who have been affected by this incident. As a responsible global citizen it is our responsibility to ensure the health and safety of all local residents and our employees," an official statement said.

"We have mobilized our technical teams to work with the investigating authorities to arrive at the exact cause of the incident," the statement added.

"As a global company we hold international environment and safety standards with the highest regard and will do our best to cooperate with the authorities to ensure there is no further recurrence," it further added.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy announced an ex-gratia of Rs one crore for the families of those killed due to the gas leak. Reddy also announced Rs 10 lakh to those in Intensive care unit (ICU) or are in a critical condition in the hospital and Rs one lakh to those who are hospitalized. The state has assured that it will bear all the expenses. 

He also announced an aid of Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 for villagers living near the plant. Reddy also announced compensation to farmers who have lost livestock and Rs 25,000 per animal, who died, will be given.

A timeline of how the unfortunate incident unfolded:

• 3.25 am: Arun Kumar (Citizen) called Dial 100 and informed about gas leakage to VSKP City Police Control Room. Immediately, Control Room staff alerted Gopalapatanam Station Staff.

• 3.26 am: SI Satyanarayana with four PCs (PC 4002, 4016, 4017, 4018) left for R.R. Venkatapuram Village by the Rakshak Vehicle.  

• 3.35 am: SI Satyanarayana along with his staff reached to R.R. Venkatapuram and realized the criticality of the situation and relayed the information to Marripalem Fire Station and also to Ambulance. Meanwhile, CI of Kancharapalem (Night In-charge), RI Bhagavan, Ganesh SI (Gajuwaka P.S) rushed to the scene.

• 3.40 am: Police started the evacuation process shifting affected people to the safe zone. Proactively the entire 4,500 families living in the vicinity were evacuated. Police barged into houses and woke up sleeping families and shifted them. City Control alerted all Rakshaks and Highway Patrolling Vehicles. Meanwhile, 2 QRT teams were deployed.

• 3.45 am: Fire Dept. staff reached the scene and augmented efforts of Police with fire fighting vehicle and alerted the people of the village. 12 Rakshaks, 6 108 vehicles, 4 Highway Patrolling Vehicles reached the spot between 3.45 AM to 4.00 AM and evacuated the families from R.R Venkatapuram, R Venkatadri Nagar, SC/BC Colony (4500 Families)

• 4.30 am: CP Vizag and DCP Zone 2 personally participated in the evacuation operation and went from house to house to ensure that citizens are moved to safety. DCP Zone 2 due to inhalation of the gas suffered symptoms of poisoning. In this entire operation, RI T. Bhagwan, CI Ramanniah, SI Satyanarayana and  PC Nagaraju have been hospitalized. 20 police personnel are suffering from mild symptoms.

• After 7 am, NDRF & SDRF teams reached the location and participated in rescue operations.