2 dead, 4 others affected in another gas leak in Vizag

Two Sainor Life Sciences Private Limited employees were killed and four others were affected due to another gas leak in Vizag on Tuesday morning. The benzimidazole leak at Sainor Life Sciences was located in the pharma city at Parawada in Visakhapatnam.

The incident appeared to have taken place around midnight when the chemical was being loaded into a reactor and was discovered on Tuesday morning.

The deceased have been identified as shift in-charge Raavi Narendra (33) and chemist Gowri Shankar (26). They died while they were being transported to the hospital. Their bodies were shifted to the government King George Hospital in Visakhapatnam for post-mortem.

The four others who also inhaled gas were shifted to a private hospital in Gajuwaka and are undergoing treatment. One of the four is on a ventilator while the remaining three are out of danger, officials told the chief minister.

District Collector Vinay Chand and Commissioner of Police RK Meena visited the site of the mishap. They posed questions about the management of the unit and what could have led to the gas leak. The collector has ordered an inquiry and Chief Minister Jaganmohan Reddy is reviewing the situation from Amaravati.

The leak has been contained and there is no need to panic, said CP Meena, adding that an FIR has been registered against the company.

A reactor blast at the same unit killed two workers three years ago, according to police.

The May 7 styrene gas leak from LG Polymers plant at Gopalapatnam near Vizag had spread for several kilometres, killing 12 villagers and hospitalising more than 500 people. None of the people inside the unit was affected in the LG case.

The latest incident has frightened locals especially in Parawada where several pharma companies are located since it has occurred within two months of the LG plant styrene gas leak.

Expressing shock over the mishap, TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu demanded that the YSRCP government immediately provide the best medical treatment possible to those injured, while providing the necessary support and assistance to the kin of the deceased.

The former chief minister called it an alarming situation that people of the port city recovering from the shock of the LG Polymers tragedy are now facing another poisonous gas leak.

A pipeline blast and ammonia leakage caused the death of a senior manager at SPY Agros, a private distillery, near Nandyala in Kurnool district on Saturday.