Vizag gas leak: Andhra High Court grants bail to 12 accused, including LG Polymers CEO

Twelve people accused in the RR Venkatapuram LG Polymers gas leak mishap were arrested earlier in July this year. The Andhra Pradesh High Court, on Tuesday, granted bail to all the accused who were taken into custody in connection with the LG Polymers gas leak in Vizag. The LG Polymers’ Managing Director and CEO Sunkey Jeong, Additional Director (operations) PP Chandra Mohan Rao, Technical Director DS Kim, HoD and shift in-charge KS Kiran Kumar, team leader (production) Raju Satyanarayana, who were among those arrested by the Vizag Police, have all been granted bail now.

The unexpected gas leak that occurred earlier in May this year claimed twelve lives, and left nearly 500 people from nearby villages ill. An expert committee was formed to probe into the cause of the accident, and found that poor design of the tank storing the styrene gas, poor safety protocol and awareness, lack of adequate safety measures and a complete breakdown of the emergency response tools like the siren caused the mishap. The Vizag Police subsequently made arrests after the 4000-page document was submitted to the state government officials.

People residing in villages around the plant were all evacuated when the gas leak occurred. They were shifted to safety while an emergency response team reached the accident site and mitigated the risk posed by the gas. After thorough cleansing of the large area, villagers were brought back to their homes from the evacuation camps. The AP Government announced an ex-gratia of Rs 1 crore to the families of victims in the tragedy. The LG Polymers team subsequently removed nearly 13,000 tonnes of styrene from Visakhapatnam and shipped it back to the company’s headquarters in Seoul, South Korea. Aside from the arrests, the Andhra Pradesh High Court also ordered the seizure of LG Polymers Plant in Vizag.-