Vizag residents share their experiences from gas leak tragedy

While Visakhapatnam is still reeling from the coronavirus pandemic, the city woke up to a morning of horror on 7 May as a lethal gas leaked from the LG Polymers Plant. The tragic incident took place at RR Venkatapuram Village, during the wee hours of Thursday. Reportedly, the locals raised an alarm around 3:30 am, complaining of the smell of gas. The leaked gas soon wreaked havoc in a radius of 3 km from the plant. While some individuals left everything behind and ran for their lives, many others fell unconscious on the roads. As Vizag is battling this gas leak tragedy, residents from the affected areas share their experiences.

Papa Rao, from Indiranagar in Gopalapatnam, Vizag shares he started getting calls on Thursday morning from 5 AM from friends saying that the localities, closest to the LG Polymers plant, like Venkatapuram and Nandamurinagar, residents were being evacuated because of a gas leak. Following the caution, he took his family of five and drove away from the chemical factory to his uncle’s house in Agnampudi. Though Mr Rao, or his family, could not see the gas, it was evident from the strong smell that it had spread across quickly. This could have been because his house is around 1.5 km away from the accident site. Mr Rao did inform that the local people moved quickly to help authorities do the needful.

A woman named Vani recounts that she woke up at 4 AM to find her entire house smelling of a pungent gas. When she came out and spoke to her neighbours, they told her a gas had leaked from the plant. Soon, Vani and her family left for her uncle’s house around 6 AM to avoid any repercussions. People who lived closer to the plant had reported witnessing fumes. However, Vani and her family could only get a pungent smell similar to that of plastic burning. The family, she says, has not experienced any symptoms.

Radhika Behera, from Padmavatinagar, mentions that the first thing she remembers is the smell of the gas. Before they could close the doors and windows, the pungent smell, which was similar to a highly concentrated spirit, could be sensed. By the time they shut the doors, Radhika and her family had inhaled some amount of gas. She experienced a burning sensation in her eyes, lips and throat. Radhika’s two children too complained of nausea. This worried the woman further as she mooted evacuating the house quickly. After some time, there were reports that the situation was brought under control. It took her family at least 3 hours to recover from the symptoms.