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80-yr-old woman who fell ill in Visakhapatnam gas leakage incident, dies

Hindustan Times, Hyderabad | BySrinivasa Rao Apparasu | Edited by: Anubha Rohatgi
May 27, 2020 08:34 PM IST

The woman had been among the hundreds who were admitted to the hospital immediately after the leakage of Styrene from LG Polymers plant on May 7. She had been treated and discharged on May 14 after full recovery but was hospitalised a few days later due to some complications.

An 80-year-old woman, who had fallen sick in the aftermath of the styrene gas leakage at the LG Polymers plant in Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam 20 days ago, died on Tuesday night. However, the doctors could not immediately confirm if the death was due to the after-effects of the gas leakage.

The gas leakage on May 7 had claimed 12 lives and over 500 had fallen sick.

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Eighty-year-old Pala Venkayamma from RR Venkatapuram village where the LG Polymers plant is located, died of cardiac arrest on Tuesday night after battling for life for nearly a week at King George Hospital at Visakhapatnam.

“She was brought to the hospital on May 19 with serious complications like dehydration and kidney-related ailments. We had put her on ventilator and made all efforts to save her life, but she had high electrolytic imbalance and succumbed on Tuesday evening,” hospital superintendent Dr G Arjuna told Hindustan Times.

He, however, said it could not be ascertained immediately whether Venkayamma died because of the impact of Styrene gas leakage. “We have sent the body to post-mortem and medical examination. Only then would we be able to tell whether she had died of gas leakage or some other age-related ailments,” he said.

As part of the latest health protocol, the hospital authorities first sent her throat swab sample for testing for Covid-19 and only after this test report, they would take up post-mortem, he said.

The doctor said Venkayamma was one of the hundreds of persons who was admitted to the hospital immediately after the leakage of Styrene from LG Polymers plant on May 7. “She had been treated like all other patients and discharged on May 14, after full recovery. She was also paid a compensation of Rs 1 lakh by the state government like other hospitalised gas leak victims. But she was brought back to the hospital on May 19,” he said.

The KGH superintendent did not rule out the possibility of the old woman dying due to after-effects of Styrene gas leak. “So far, we have not come across any such cases of people complaining about long-term effects of Styrene gas, since it was first such incident ever took place. We have to wait for the autopsy report and other tests,” he said.

The YSR Congress government has paid Rs 1 crore each to the families of 12 persons who died of Styrene gas leakage from LG Polymers’ plant. The family members of Venkayamma also demanded that they be paid the same amount as ex gratia.

Meanwhile, Telugu Desam Party president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu announced financial assistance of Rs 50,000 to each of the families of the gas leakage victims on behalf of the party. He expressed regret for not being able to call on the families of the victims due to lockdown restrictions.

The TDP’s two-day Mahanadu held on digital platform observed two-minute silence over the deaths in Visakhapatnam gas leakage incident.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain the plea of LG Polymers India Ltd for a stay on the Andhra Pradesh high court’s order for seizure of the Visakhapatnam plant till the investigation is completed.

It, however, allowed 30 employees of the company to supervise round-the-clock safety measures at the sealed plant. It asked the company to give a list of 30 personnel to the district collector. “This interim direction will continue till the high court considers the matter and passes appropriate directions,” it said.

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