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Thursday was going to be a normal day for people living in RR Venkatapuram village near Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. But, even before they could wake up, a deadly gas escaped from a nearby chemical factory and pulled them out of their sleep.
The pre-dawn disaster, which occurred at 2:30 a.m., killed 11 people and left more than 1,000 struggling to breathe.
The ANI news agency video showed emergency workers in the area rushing to help victims, some of whom appeared listless and disoriented.
Several victims lay unconscious on the street, when some volunteers fanned them and others rushed to take them to ambulances. The scene evoked memories of the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy that left at least 4,000 people dead and another 500,000 wounded when methyl isocyanate leaked from a Union Carbide pesticide plant in the capital of Madhya Pradesh.
“The leak was so intense that it turned into a fog and only around 9:30 am we were able to understand what exactly it was when the thick fog that formed in the area cleared,” the PTI news agency quoted the collector as saying. district V Vinay Chand.
The gas spread to the villages within a radius of five kilometers.
When rescuers rushed to take people to the hospital, many others were seen breathless as they tried to flee, disoriented by the fumes. “No one could breathe. I couldn’t see anything for a while, “said Vijay Raju, a local resident, on the phone.” For a moment, I thought I was going to die. “
Narendra, another villager, said he felt something was wrong after waking up in the middle of the night. “Around 2.30 am, I woke up when my skin was itchy. I opened my eyes but felt a burning sensation. I felt some danger and woke up my family, “he said.
State authorities and LG Polymers officials said they were investigating what caused the leak, but a preliminary report of the situation by district officials said the trigger was a malfunction of the equipment, causing the temperature to rise and the Organic styrene compound, normally a liquid, will vaporize. .
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