Medical workers carry an unconscious person to an ambulance after a gas leakage at the "LG Polymers" chemical plant in the Vishakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh, India, May 7, 2020. The death toll in Thursday's gas leak incident in India's southern state Andhra Pradesh has risen to 11, confirmed Director General of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) S.N. Pradhan while addressing media persons in Delhi. (Str/Xinhua)
NEW DELHI, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The death toll in Thursday's gas leak incident in India's southern state Andhra Pradesh has risen to 11, confirmed Director General of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) S.N. Pradhan while addressing media persons in Delhi.
According to him, initially around 25 gas-hit people were put on ventilators but they were stable and now shifted to normal wards at the hospitals where they are undergoing treatment.
Around 150 gas infected people have been admitted in government-run King George Hospital and private Apollo Hospital.
Director of Delhi-based All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Randeep Guleria told media persons that the gas compound "Styrene", that got leaked, affected humans' respiratory system, but the affect would gradually go away with the passage of time.
The incident happened in the state's Vishakhapatnam district early on Thursday morning when the gas compound leaked from the "LG Polymers" chemical plant in the wee hours, leading to panic among the local people. People living in several villages around the chemical plant were mostly affected.
The gas leakage reportedly occurred due to the malfunction of a valve. Its affect was noted in a three square kilometer area. Around 3,000 people were evacuated from a couple of villages located in the immediate vicinity of the chemical plant, and sent to relief camps.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy announced a monetary compensation of 10 million Indian Rupees (around 133,350 U.S. dollars) to the kin of the dead. Enditem
