By Jose Kavi

New Delhi, May 7, 2020: The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India on May 7 expressed shock and pain over the gas leak in Visakhapatnam, a port city in Andhra Pradesh state.

“From the reports it is noted that many have died and scores are ill, and the accident has created mass panic in several areas,” says a press statement from the conference.

At least 11 people were dead and more than 1,000 fell ill on May 7 after gas leaked overnight from a chemical plant of a multinational firm near Visakhapatnam.

Lima Joshi, a Catholic laywoman living in Vishakhapatnam, told Matters India over phone that people felt breathlessness when they came out of their houses. “Many fell on the ground unconscious,” she added.

According to her, the gas spread over a 4-km radius of an LG Polymers factory. “People started running away from their homes. Many died on the spot and many are admitted in hospitals.”

The bishops’ conference says the gas that leaked out was poisonous, and that “depending on the intensity of inhaling, can cause permanent damaged to the central nervous system. The elderly people and those with respiratory ailments are most at risk.”

According to ndtv.com, more than 200 are in hospitals after inhaling what is believed to be styrene gas. People were found unconscious in lanes, ditches and near houses. They were taken to hospitals in a rescue effort that added to the challenges posed by the coronavirus lockdown.

Officials told reporters that they have evacuated at least three surrounding villages and launched house-to-house checks.

The gas leak reportedly started at 2:30 am from large tanks that were unattended because of the lockdown.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he had spoken to home ministry and disaster management officials and tweeted: “I pray for everyone’s safety and well-being in Visakhapatnam.”

The plant makes polystyrene and expandable polystyrene, a versatile plastic used to make a wide variety of consumer products like toys and appliances. Set up in 1961 as Hindustan Polymers, the company was taken over by South Korea’s LG Chem and renamed LG Polymers India in 1997.

The bishops’ statement, signed by its president Cardinal Oswald Gracias, offered the Church’s support to the civil authorities efforts to bring solace to those affected by the gas leak.

The bishops urged the authorities to take steps to avoid the occurrence of such accidents in future.

The press release said the conference has directed Caritas India, its aid agency, to get in touch with the local authorities to find out how the Church could help.

The bishops acknowledged that the accident has put additional strain on the authorities who are now busy fighting the coronavirus pandemic.