Visakhapatnam: Minor leak triggers panic among residents

Visakhapatnam: An eerie silence prevailed at RR Venkatapuram and surrounding villages following the leakage of toxic styrene monomer at the LG Polymers in Visakhapatnam.

The plant management and the district administration assessed that the situation would be brought under control by Friday noon with the help of the inhibitors that landed from Gujarat via a special flight.

However, on Thursday night, tension mounted as a minor gas leak at the plant occurred for the second time. With this development, the district administration did not allow any resident of RR Venkatapuram and the neighbouring villages to enter their residences. The houses in these areas remained locked on Friday as well, painting a desolate picture.

The leakage that happened again on Thursday night made people in surrounding areas panic and flee from their residence for a safer place.

With social media platforms circulating false news about the possible plant explosion following the gas leak for the second time, those within five-km radius of the company have left their places as soon as they got a hint of the news.

Locking their houses, the residents of the surrounding areas rushed to different localities, including Gajuwaka and Beach Road. Though the false news about the plant's likely 'explosion' was only confined to five-km radius from the plant, its impact appeared to spread upto 8-km.

Scores of residents moved away from their houses through their vehicles, leading to traffic chaos that continued till late in the night.