India gas leak: at least nine dead and hundreds ill in Visakhapatnam

At least nine people have been killed and several hundred taken to hospital after a gas leak at a chemicals plant on the east coast of India, police said on Thursday.

They said that the gas had leaked out of two 5,000-tonne tanks in the city of Visakhapatnam that had remained unattended due to India's coronavirus lockdown in place since late March.

Assistant police commissioner Swarupa Rani said at least nine people had died and between 300 and 400 were taken to hospital. Another 1,500 people had been rescued, mostly from a neighbouring village.

South Korean battery maker LG Chemical, the owner of the plant, 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.

Srijana Gumalla, commissioner of the greater Visakhapatnam municipal corporation, said initial reports suggested the gas was styrene, which can cause irritation of the skin eyes and upper gastrointestinal tract.

The LG Polymers plant is located about 14 kilometres outside Visakhapatnam, an industrial port city in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The city and the surrounding area are home to about five million people.

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," said Ms Rani, an assistant commissioner.

"We received an emergency call from the local villagers about 3.30am in the morning today. They said there was some gas in the air.

"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 about 4am."

Ms Gumalla said the municipality had advised people living around the plant to leave the area and said that mist blowers were being used to clear the gas.

A gas leak in the central Indian city of Bhopal in December 1984 caused one of the worst industrial disasters in history.

About 3,500 people, mainly in shanties around a pesticide plant operated by Union Carbide, died in the days that followed and thousands more in the following years. People continue to suffer its after-effects to this day.

Government statistics say that at least 100,000 people living near the American company's plant have been victims of chronic illnesses.

Survivors still suffer from ailments such as respiratory and kidney problems, hormonal imbalances, mental illness and several forms of cancer.

New generations have been made ill by the polluted groundwater and poisonous breastmilk fed to them from birth.

To this day, children are still born disfigured with webbed hands and feet, weak immune systems, stunted growth and congenital disorders owing to the gas that affected their mothers.