Authorities said the evacuation was precautionary, but it triggered panic among people overnight that another gas leak was occurring.
"No, there was not another leakage,’’ National Disaster Response Force spokesman
Factory owner
A state administrator in the district,
Expert teams were checking the factory's vicinity for any aftereffects of the gas leak. Residents of five villages are waiting for a clear signal to return to their homes, Chand said.
The initial evacuations on Thursday affected about 3,000 people.
The death toll rose to 12 on Friday with one person dying in a hospital,
Chand said 316 people were being treated in hospitals and were in stable condition. State police chief
The chemical styrene, used to make plastic and rubber, on Thursday leaked from the LG Polymers plant on the outskirts of the eastern coastal city of Vishakhapatnam in
The leak was suspected to have come from large tanks left unattended over the past six weeks.
“Our initial information is that workers were checking a gas storage tank when it started leaking,” said Industries Minister
Videos and photos from the area showed dozens of people lying unconscious in the streets, arms open wide with white froth trailing from their mouths. People fled on foot, on motorbikes and in open trucks as police officers, some wearing gas masks, rushed to get people out of their homes.
The scene evoked bitter memories of the
The blanket of gas spread about 3 kilometers (1.8 miles), sickening people in at least four villages. The leak was stopped by
A neurotoxin, styrene gas can immobilize a person within minutes of inhalation and be deadly at high concentrations.
South Korea’s
The bowl-shaped coastal city in
“We have not learnt from our past mistakes,” said
Considered the world’s worst industrial accident, the leak of methyl isocyanate at a Union Carbide India pesticide plant prompted successive Indian governments to pledge to improve safety standards. But many similar accidents, although on a smaller scale, continue.
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