A gas leak at LG Polymers India Pvt Ltd polymer plant at Visakhapatnam, India left at least eight dead and about 800 people sick. The incident took place on 7 May at around 02:30 am IST.
The gas reportedly started leaking when the workers were preparing to reopen the plant today post lockdown. The gas was reportedly leaked out from two 5,000 metric tons tanks, which had been unattended since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
South Korea’s LG Chemical took over the plant from a local Indian company in the late 1990s.
“We are working together with the local authorities to assess the damage caused to the local people and to take whatever it takes to protect them and our workers,” LG Chemical said in a statement. “The gas leak from the factory is now under control. But the gas can cause vomiting and dizziness when inhaled. We are doing all we can to ensure medical treatment as quickly as possible.”
“Styrene monomer (SM) vapors from one of the two 2500 MT capacity storage tanks leaked from the vents due to a phenomena called runaway polymerization. The reaction caused temperature to rise above SM boiling point thus leading to its vaporization,” said LG Polymers GM, Mohan Rao.
“We have our tank refrigeration under control and brought down the temperature below 20 degree celsius, and prevented further polymerization by adding sufficient inhibitors for the past 5 hrs. The plant is now safe and we are cooperating with the local authorities on this,” he added.
LG Polymers India plant produces polystyrene (PS) and expandable polystyrene (EPS).