One more person, Kadali Satyanarayana (58), died in Venkatapuram village, here on Monday, taking the toll post the styrene vapour leak from LG Polymers India plant on May 7 to three.
According to the family members of the deceased, the entire family was hospitalised after styrene vapour leaked from the chemical plant, and Satyanarayana was discharged a few days ago from the King George Hospital (KGH). He died on Monday, and the family members alleged that he died of health complications after inhaling the vapour.
SHO of Gopalpatnam Police Station P. Ramnaiah said that based on a complaint filed by the family members suspecting that he had died due to inhaling the styrene monomer vapour, a case has been booked and his body had been sent for post-mortem.
Earlier Y. Kanakaraju (45) and P. Venkayamma (72) had died after the incident and both the cases had become medico legal cases and their bodies were sent for autopsy to ascertain the cause of death.
On May 7, after styrene monomer vapour had leaked out of the plant in the early hours, 12 persons died and hundreds were hospitalised.
As per Government records, toll as on date still stands at 12. But if the post-mortem reports confirm that the three had died due to inhaling the fumes, the toll would rise to 15.
The government had paid a compensation of ₹1 crore to each of the family of the 12 deceased.
CPI(M) State Secretariat Member Ch. Narasinga Rao said that Satyanaryana lived in the same street where Kanakaraju had lived. “This is a serious issue and government needs to address it immediately and set up a full-fledged health facility at the village with oxygen or ventilator facility,” he said.
He also alleged that post-mortem reports were being delayed to avoid paying the compensation.