Gas leak at pharma plant in Andhra Pradesh; 2 dead, four critical

Two workers died, four hospitalised following leakage of Benzimidazole gas at Sainor Life Sciences Pvt Ltd in Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City (JNPC) in Parawada area of Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, on Monday night. The authorities are probing the exact cause behind the gas leakage. "Two people have died and four were admitted at hospitals. The situation is under control now. Two persons who died were workers and were present at the leakage site. The gas did not spread anywhere else," Uday Kumar, Inspector, Parwada Police Station, told ANI.

At the time of the incident, around 30 people were reportedly working at the pharma company. After the leak, six workers collapsed, resulting in the death of two of them. The deceased have been identified as Narendra and Gohri Shankar and those hospitalised are also in critical condition, The Times of India reported.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has inquired about the accident and district collector V Vinay Chand, police commissioner RK Meena and others also visited the company premises to probe the incident.

The CM office confirmed that the accident had occurred due to gas leakage at 11.30 pm last night. "Factory was shut down immediately as a precautionary measure," it added.

The tragedy happened around two months after 12 people died and many were hospitalised in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) styrene gas leak incident at an LG Chemical Plant in Vizag on May 7. The Andhra Pradesh government has constituted a high-power committee to investigate the cause behind the gas leak incident.

Also Read: Vizag gas leak: LG Chem sends delegates to probe matter

Also Read: LG Polymers: Gross negligence, lack of training caused Vizag gas leak, says NGT report