At least 11 people have been killed and several hundred admitted to hospitals after a gas leak at a chemicals plant on the east coast of India, officials said on Thursday.
Another 1,500 people were evacuated, mostly from a neighbouring village, some 14km (9 miles) inland from the east coast city of Visakhapatnam, in Andhra Pradesh state.
Footage on Indian television channels showed people, including women and children, lying motionless in the streets of Visakhapatnam, an industrial port city.
#VizagGasLeak@NDRFHQ has been working to assist in evacuation of local people & admin on site.
As first responders, they have a lot of work laid out.@satyaprad1 is leading a strong team.@PIBHomeAffairs @ndmaindia @vizagcitypolice @vizagcollectorpic.twitter.com/jqtXrTA9Cc— Geeta Mohan گیتا موہن गीता मोहन (@Geeta_Mohan) May 7, 2020
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 told Reuters the plant had been reopened in the past few days after India relaxed a nationwide lockdown, that was imposed on March 25 to contain the spread of the new coronavirus.
South Korean battery maker LG Chemical Ltd, the owner of the facility 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.
Rani earlier told AFP news agency that the gas leaked out of two 5,000-tonne tanks of the plant located in Andhra Pradesh state.
“We received an emergency call from the local villagers around 3:30am local time [22:00 GMT] in the morning today. They said there was some gas in the air,” she said.
“We reached there immediately. 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. Prepared rescue workers started working from around 4am [22:30 GMT].”
