Visakhapatnam: Gas leak at pharma plant claims two lives
In a terrible piece of news, two workers died and four were hospitalized after harmful gas leaked from a factory in Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam around midnight on Monday. The incident was reported from the Sainor Life Sciences pharmaceutical company. Around 30 workers were working inside the plant at the time of the incident. Police said the situation has now been brought under control.
The gas leak was reported around 11:30 pm and the factory, located in the Parwada area, was immediately shut. Although the reason for the mishap couldn't be ascertained, officials believe a technical glitch could have led to it. Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy has sought more information on the incident. Meanwhile, senior cop Uday Kumar told ANI the gas didn't spread to other areas.
The deceased were identified as shift-in-charge, Narendra, and another person named M. Gowri Sankar. Those who were taken to RK Hospital for treatment are LV Chendra Sekhar, who hails from Salapuvanipalem, and P Ananad Babu, a resident of Anakapalle. The remaining two who were hospitalized are 24-year-old chemist D. Janaki Rani and 29-year-old M Surya Narayana.
This incident comes weeks after over 10 people died due to a gas leak at the LG Polymers plant in Visakhapatnam. The incident happened when workers were trying to restart the plant, shut for weeks due to coronavirus-necessitated countrywide lockdown. Subsequently, NDMA issued guidelines for restarting operations to avert any mishap. Establishments were asked by NDMA to consider the first week as "test run".
