Hundreds in hospital after deadly gas leak at Indian chemical factory

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: The Guardian

A gas leak at a chemical factory in south-east India has killed at least nine people, including two children, and led to hundreds being taken to hospital, with fears the death toll could grow.

Styrene from the plastics plant owned by Korea’s LG Corp started leaking into the surrounding residential area from about 3am on Thursday morning, incapacitating some people in their homes and causing others to collapse in the streets in the area on the outskirts of Visakhapatnam city on India’s east coast.

Police said the leak was from two 5,000-tonne tanks that had been unattended since India imposed a coronavirus lockdown in late March, though a spokesman for LG said maintenance staff were present at the facility when the accident occurred.

Footage from the area around the plant showed people, including children, lying in the streets, and dead cows with white substances trailing from their noses. News of the leak triggered a mass exodus and some appeared to have collapsed as they were trying to flee the area on foot or by motor-scooters.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/07/gas-leak-at-chemical-factory-in-india-kills-hospitalises-lg-polymers

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Death toll now up to 13: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-52569636

[rampartc]

1. bhopal 1984 union carbide almost 4000 dead

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster

still #1 indian gas disaster usa usa usa!

[Saviolo]

2. The podcast Behind the Bastards did an amazing episode about this.

You can listen to it here:

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236323/episode/the-industrial-disaster-that-makes-chernobyl-47285518/

The concept of the podcast is "Everything you don't know about the worst people in all of history" and the host (Robert Evans) is a bit mad-cap. If you can get past that, he's a stunningly thorough investigative journalist (he also works for Bellingcat, and has covered civil wars in places like Syria, Ukraine, and Iraq).

[eppur_se_muova]

3. Wow, surprising. Styrene is a liquid with a boiling point of 293 F.

Seems odd that the fumes could be that overpowering. Perhaps it was a chemical used in manufacture of styrene? The article mentions a "gas storage tank" which seems unnecessary for styrene.

The physiological effects of styrene are described in the second link.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. Macmillan Dictionary of Toxicology for styrene:

"The TLV-TWA is 50 ppm, STEL is 100 ppm) and the LD50 in rats is 5 g/kg. Styrene causes irritation to eyes and respiratory passages. It is a CNS depressant and causes pulmonary edema, cardiac arrhythmia and renal and hepatic damage "

Wikipedia says it has a flash point of 31C, so it does evaporate, at temperatures that would be reached in India at this time of year.

Maybe "gas storage tank" is inacccurate; it was a tank, and vapor coming from it. Chemical and Engineering News notes "styrene is a colorless liquid that evaporates easily", but doesn't talk about a gas storage tank, or a gas for that matter.

[Jake Stern]

5. Bhopal 2.0

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. India gas leak: Culpable homicide charges after 11 die

Indian police have filed charges of culpable homicide against managers of LG Polymers over a gas leak at the plant that killed 11 people.

The leak at the site, owned by South Korean company LG Chem, occurred early on Thursday morning in the city of Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh state.
...
Officials said most of those who were admitted to hospital on Thursday have since been discharged. Some 120 people are still being treated, but are stable.
...
The cause of the leak is still unclear and investigation is underway, officials said. But the charges against the company include causing death by negligence.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-52586999