Vizag gas leak: Chilling scenes bring back memories of Bhopal gas tragedy

The Vizag gas tragedy may not be comparable to one of the world’s worst industrial disasters that happened in Bhopal 36 years ago in terms of fatalities and injuries, but the two have many chilling similarities.

Both chemical disasters occurred past midnight, had leakage of toxic gases as the root cause and hit the poor living in close vicinity of the plants the hardest.

The Vizag chemical plant is owned by a South Korean company while the then multinational giant Union Carbide Corporation ran Bhopal’s killer factory for 15 years till the disaster on December 3, 1984, forced its closure.

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A manufacturer of pesticides, the now-defunct Bhopal factory was responsible for the leak of 40 tonnes of highly toxic methyl isocyanate gas that killed over one lakh people and permanently maimed over six lakh.

In comparison, the casualty to human lives from the Styrene gas leaked from the Vizag plant owned by LG Chemicals is very low.

Nevertheless, the scenes in Vizag on Thursday morning were reminiscent of the Bhopal gas disaster. Many of the Bhopal survivors had either experienced firsthand or seen others collapsing on streets or complaining of irritation in eyes.

Read: Vizag Gas Leak: Foul toxic vapours from LG Chem chases locals to farther places

Footage from Vizag showed people lying on roads near the site, possibly unconscious. The scenes were more horrendous 36 years ago. Scores had left their homes in a hurry as the gas started to spread. It mostly affected the low-lying areas of Bhopal and led to decaying of vegetables, fruits, etc.

There is one remarkable difference between the two though. There was no such institution as the National Disaster Management Authority then. Bhopal missed professionalism in rescue and relief operations. Vizag is lucky on that count.

Visakhapatnam Collector Vinay Chand said 20 ambulances were pressed into service as soon information about the gas leak was received.

Exposure to styrene, also known as ethenylbenzene, vinylbenzene can affect the central nervous system (CNS), causing headache, fatigue, weakness, and depression.

Read: Vizag Gas Leak: From 'Hindustan Polymers' to LG Chem - three ownerships in six decades

LG Polymers was established in 1961 as "Hindustan Polymers" for manufacturing Polystyrene and its co-polymers at Visakhapatnam. It merged with McDowell & Co. Ltd of UB Group in 1978, according to the company's website.

Taken over by LG Chem (South Korea), Hindustan Polymers was renamed LG Polymers India Private Limited (LGPI) in July, 1997.