A styrene gas leak at LG Polymers in Visakhapatnam killed 13 people and sickened over 1,000, highlighting industrial safety failures in India.
Key Facts
- Death toll
- 13
- People sickened
- More than 1,000
- Vapour cloud radius
- 3.0 km
- Ex gratia per deceased family
- ₹1 crore (approx. US$100,000)
- Total compensation budget
- ₹30 crore (approx. US$3.1 million)
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Preliminary investigations found the accident resulted from insufficient maintenance of styrene monomer storage units, improper storage practices, and operation errors at the LG Polymers chemical plant in the R. R. Venkatapuram village, Visakhapatnam, during a period when the facility had been idle due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
In the early morning of 7 May 2020, a styrene monomer gas leak occurred at the LG Polymers plant in Gopalapatnam, Visakhapatnam. A vapour cloud spread over approximately 3.0 km, exposing residents in nearby villages to toxic fumes and prompting emergency response from the National Disaster Response Force.
Thirteen people died and more than 1,000 were sickened. The Government of Andhra Pradesh paid ₹1 crore in ex gratia to each deceased family and allocated ₹30 crore for compensation of all affected persons, while the incident prompted scrutiny of industrial safety standards at chemical facilities across India.
Human Cost
Each dot represents approximately 10,000 deaths. Total estimated: 13 (other)