LG Polymers India Pvt Ltd (LGPI) has on Thursday said the styrene gas leak in its plant in Visakhapatnam was due to non-functioning of plant due during lockdown.

"The lockdown has become a curse for our industry. As system was not running for the last 40 days, the chemical was stored in the system which otherwise would have gone to the reactor,’’ Mohan Rao, General Manager, LGPI said.

In the early hours of Thursday, styrene gas had leaked from company’s plant in R R Venkatapuram. While the tank had a capacity of 2400 tonnes, there was 1800 tonnes in it at the time time of the mishap.

The company, which has 363 employees is now operating with 15 staffers.

In a press conference in New Delhi, NDRF chief said that there has been 11 deaths due to the leak, and 1,000 people have been directly exposed to the Styrene gas.

According to AP Minister for Industries, the plant was operating on self-monitoring and self-certification process. "LG Polymers is responsible for maintaining the plant and the incident, it appears as of now, has happened in the process of re-starting the company after the lockdown,'' he said.

The police evacuated 800 people from R R Venkatapuram village where the plant is located and others in five surrounding villages have been alerted. The rescue operations are on.

Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy visited the victims at the KGH Hospital in the city. He also announced an ex-gratia of Rs 1 crore each to the families of those who have died due to the leak.

PTI adds

Taking stock of the situation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that he had spoken to officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). “I pray for everyone’s safety and well-being in Visakhapatnam,” Modi said in a tweet.

President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu also expressed their distress and condoled the loss of lives.