The Visakhapatnam gas leak, also referred to as the Vizag gas leak, was an industrial accident that occurred at the LG Polymers chemical plant in R. R. Venkatapuram village near Gopalapatnam on the outskirts of Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India, during the early morning of 7 May 2020. The resulting vapour cloud spread over a radius of about three kilometres (2 mi), affecting the nearby areas and villages. As per the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) the death toll was 11, and more than 1,000 people became sick after being exposed to the gas.
The chemical plant at the R. R. Venkatapuram village was established in 1961 as Hindustan Polymers. It manufactures polystyrene, its co-polymer products, and engineering plastic compounds. In 1978, it was merged with McDowell & Co. In 1997, it was acquired by South Korea-based LG Chem, which renamed the company to LG Polymers India. LG Chem expanded its operations at LG Polymers plant five times between 2006 and 2018.
Lack of environment clearance
The South Korean parent company, LG Chem, said in its May 2019 affidavit, a part of an application for environment clearance, that the company did not have a legitimate environmental clearance issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), after receiving an Environmental impact assessment (EIA), substantiating the produced quantity and for continuing operations. According to the EIA notification (amendment) of 2006 under the Environment Protection Act of 1986, LG chemicals India, which is part of the petrochemical industry, falls into category ‘A’ and should get clearance from the MoEFCC every time they expanded their plant or brought a change to their manufactured product after November 2006. LG Chem expanded its operations at LG Polymers plant five times between 2006 and 2018 without such clearance. According to the May 2019 affidavit, since 1997, it was instead operating with state permits required for starting a new business and operating it and renewed every five years.
However, LG Chem spokesman Choi Sang-kyu told the Associated Press (AP) that the company had followed Indian laws and operated based on the guidelines provided by the officials, both at the state and federal level. He said that the affidavit was not an admission of violation of law but a pledge of compliance with the law.[9] After the 2006 notification, Choi said that the company consulted the ministry and was told that no clearance was required. However, Environment Secretary C. K. Mishra told the AP that the plant would have no requirement of clearance in 2006, but a clearance was imperative for any expansion or production change since then.
LG Polymers had never asked for a federal clearance until 2017 and per the minutes of a meeting between the company and the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board, the latter denied the former’s request of producing engineering plastics at its plant. However, a member of the state pollution board said that there was no information available regarding any order by state government to stop the operation of the plant. In 2018, the company applied for an environmental clearance for the first time, to expand its manufacturing capacity of polystyrene, a plastic used to make bottles and lids. The Environment ministry sent the application for a review citing that the company didn’t have a clearance for the chemicals it was already manufacturing. The company withdrew the application while applying for a retroactive clearance that the ministry offered to companies in 2018 as a one-time amnesty, which remained pending till the fatal leak occurred.
Facilities and leakage
On 7 May 2020, the plant was re-opened following the nationwide lockdown implemented as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The plant stored 2,000 metric tons (2,000 long tons; 2,200 short tons) of styrene in tanks, which were left unattended. Styrene monomer must be stored between 20–22 °C (68–72 °F) above which it will rapidly vaporize. It is believed that a computer glitch in the factory’s cooling system allowed temperatures in the storage tanks to exceed safe levels, causing styrene to vaporize. Between 2:30 a.m. and 3:00 a.m., when maintenance activity was in progress, the gas leaked from the plant and spread to nearby villages.
Acute effects
As of 7 May, the fumes had spread over a radius of 3 kilometres (2 mi).[18][12][19] Five villages—R. R. Venkatapuram, Padmapuram, BC Colony, Gopalapatnam and Kamparapalem—were the most affected areas. Hundreds of people were rushed to hospitals with breathing difficulties and burning sensation in the eyes. Many had been found lying on the ground unconscious due to the effects of the gas. According to the initial estimate, at least 11 people had died, and 20–25 people were in critical condition. By the next day, the death toll had risen to thirteen. More than 1,000 people were reportedly exposed to the gas.
Also on 7 May, late at night, police ordered the evacuation of people in a 2 km (1.2 mi) radius around the leak. However, police subsequently stated that this evacuation was precautionary and that there hadn’t been a second leak.
Probable leakage and removal of chemicals
Experts from central government who were inspecting the plant said that it would have faced a catastrophe had the violation of safety norms at other storage facilities at the plant gone unnoticed for a few more days. They said those facilities were vulnerable to a leak of vapour on a larger scale and stored in a high-risk condition at that time. An expert said polymerization was noticed in another storage.
According to Deccan Chronicle, two experts of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Dr Anjan Ray, director of the Indian Institute of Petroleum, and Shantanu Geete, an industry expert, inspected the storage facilities of the plant also the Vizag port. Dr. Ray, an expert in styrene, recommended the government that the materials should be immediately removed from the facilities. On 11 May 2020, the Andhra Pradesh government directed the company to remove 13,000 metric tonnes (MT) of material out of the country. The state government arranged two vessels with the help of the Ministry of Shipping, to carry 8,000 MT and 5,000 MT respectively to the company’s headquarter at Seoul.
Mekapati Goutham Reddy, minister of industries of Andhra Pradesh, said that the preliminary conclusion from the inspections of experts shows that the storage facilities were not designed to keep the material for a long duration. However, the plant personnel claimed that the material is emptied every 10 to 15 days and never stored more than the assigned period.
Relief and rescue
Nearly 200-250 families were evacuated from villages in a five-kilometre (3.1 mi) radius around the plant. About 300 people were hospitalized, according to a media report. The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy announced an ex gratia of ₹1 crore (US$140,000) for the kin of those deceased in the accident. He further announced ₹ 25,000 (US$350) for those who received primary treatment, ₹ 1 lakh (US$1,400) for those who received longer treatment, and ₹1 million (US$14,000) for those on ventilator support.
To neutralize the gas, around 500 kilograms (1,100 lb) of the antioxidant 4-tert-butylcatechol (PTBC) will be airlifted by the Government of Andhra Pradesh and sent to the crippled factory. The Central Government flew in a specialized CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear) team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) from Pune to the site as well.
Remedial measures by LG
LG Chemicals started a support measures to eliminate all risk factors in the plant. In its effort, LG brought ACtify 2680, a green retarder and ACtify 2673, a polymerisation inhibitor from Dorf Ketal Chemicals, a Mumbai-based chemical company. LG said the retarder and the inhibitor will be added into the tanks of the Styrene stored at LG Polymers which will prevent further degradation and any future gas leak which will ensure the safety of the site. The ACtify series retarder, believed to be a new innovative green polymer retardant, is thermally stable and provides required protection during unscheduled shutdowns.
On 13 May 2020, the South Korean company informed media that an eight-member technical team, comprising experts from production, environment and safety department, from its Seoul headquarters was sent to investigate the incident and to rehabilitate the victims. LG Polymers India said the team would take prompt rehabilitation and real-time remedial measures. They would meet the victims and affected families to explain support measures in detail and also hold meetings with the local State government officials.[29]
As the Vizag gas leak that killed 12 people and landed hundreds in hospital jolted the nation still haunted by the Bhopal tragedy memories, many questions are being raised on the cause of the incident at LG Polymers, efficacy of the safety mechanisms in the plant and the reasons for the company preferring to not obtain necessary environmental clearances. Many from the area who fled their homes are still afraid to come back and a few who returned complain of continuing discomfort.
On March 7 around 3.35 am 19-year-old medical student A. Chandramouli residing at RR Venkatapuram was suddenly woken up from his sleep by his parents. He was unable to breathe as the air around him was filled with some kind of pungent smell. His eyes were profusely watering and he was blinded, say his near and dear ones. Dazed and confused due to the limited flow of oxygen to his brain, instead of running towards the door he ran towards the balcony and fell to death from the second floor of his house.
A similar thing happened to C. Gangaraju, in his mid thirties. Inhaling the fumes, he staggered out of his house and fell into a well and drowned.
The fumes that the residents of RR Venkatapuram, Venkatapuram, SC-BC Colony, Kamparapalem, Nandamuri Nagar and Padmanabha Nagar inhaled that morning was the deadly styrene monomer vapour that leaked out of a storage tank in LG Polymers India, a chemical plant owned by South Korea-based LG Chem, located in RR Venkatapuram.
The incident left 12 dead and over 350 hospitalised. Over 2,000 people were evacuated from the villages within a radius of 1.5 to 3 km from the plant. People ran for their lives, leaving their belongings and houses unlocked.
“We are habituated to the pungent smell, as we have been inhaling it since our birth. But we never expected that vapour would leak out in such huge quantity and prove so dangerous,” says Appalaraju, a resident of SC-BC Colony.
What could have happened
As per the initial assessment, auto-polymerisation of the liquid styrene is said to be the cause for formation of the vapour. The plant was not operating due to lockdown for almost 40 days and the difference in temperature at the bottom and top portion of the tank, it is being said, has caused the vapour formation.
The boiling point of styrene is 145° Celsius and as per District Collector V. Vinay Chand, the temperature rose to 154° Celsius. About 1800 MT of styrene was present in the 2400 MT capacity tank.
Many questions are being raised on the incident and are under probe. How did the temperature rise and was it not noticed? Were the low and high temperature inhibitors at the plant present in sufficient quantity? (Inhibitors such as PTBC – para-tertiary butyl catechol – are used to solidify the liquid to lower the temperature.) Was there some mechanical error in the gauges or was there a human error?
The NDRF had flown in 500 kg of PTBC to bring down the temperature.
“Fortunately, styrene monomer vapour is heavy and does not spread to a large area as in the case of other gases. It settles down within a radius of 1.5 km, says Mr. Anantaram Ganapathi, who worked as the styrene plant manager in the company.
In an affidavit in May 2019, the factory had accepted that it was operating without obtaining the environment clearances. The company had admitted that the unit did not have ‘environment clearance substantiating the produced quantity, issued by the competent authority for continuing operations, and was operating based on a consent given by the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board’.
“How did APPCB grant Consent for Establishment (CFE) and Consent for Operation (CFO) around the beginning of 2019 for the unit’s expansion? APPCB did not apparently take clearance either from the State government or from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests,” alleges former bureaucrat E.A.S. Sarma.
Apart from ensuring compensation, the government has set up a dispensary with 10 specialist doctors to treat the people.
Despite a few ministers sleeping in the village recently to instil confidence, many are still afraid to go back. Some of those who returned say that more than a week after the incident the smell of vapour continues to linger and that they are unable to come to terms with it.
The rice stored in the house smells, the floor is sticky with vapour residue and the government is still supplying packaged water or GVMC tankers.
“Our eyes and skin still burn. We are scared of the long-term health effects and depression that has set in many,” laments Lakshmi, a housewife.
