Toxic gas leak strikes in the dead of night just days after LG Polymers plant reopened after coronavirus shutdown.
New Delhi — A gas leak at an industrial plant in southern India has killed at least 13 people and sickened hundreds more, police told CBS News on Thursday.
The chemical gas leaked at a plant owned by LG Polymers, a subsidiary of the South Korean megacorporation LG, on the outskirts of Visakhapatnam city in Andhra Pradesh state early Thursday morning. Detected around 3 a.m. local time, the leak left hundreds of residents in the surrounding area unconscious or sick as they slept.
“Thirteen people, including a child, have died and between 300 to 400 people are being treated in hospitals,” Swarupa Rani, an Assistant Commissioner of Police in Visakhapatnam, told CBS News.
Andhra Pradesh state police chief Damodar Goutam Sawang later told reporters that about 800 people were hospitalized, though many were quickly discharged.
Hundreds more have complained of breathlessness and a burning sensation in their eyes.
