There’s never an end to anything that’s absurd and unjust. And also, there’s never really a dearth of noting days where something grim and dark doesn’t take place on account of something that’s absurd or unjust. Take India’s example at this point.
As if the economic recession the country is already dealing with and the stringent rules following the lockdown weren’t enough to deal with, India faced the heat of what can only be called an unfortunate incident.
Dozens of lives were affected as a chemical factory in the heart of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh- in Vishakhapatnam- faced a sudden leak leading to the demise of a few whilst hundreds others were hospitalized in what can only be called a deadly tragedy.
It is the poor and those who hail from the weak economic sections of the society who have to face the wrath of life. And in this unfortunate incident, that is exactly what transpired as a gas leak incident at an LG polymers plant at Vishakhapatnam rocked the cradle of the country already in a state of economic chaos.
The news, nowadays, it may not be wrong to suggest, is full of strife with several stories of joblessness and loss of hope forming the centre-stage of news events. With the lockdown, while hundreds of thousands have already lost their jobs with others waiting to embrace the heat from the sidelines, it is phenomenon like an indefinite stoppage of all economic, manufacturing, agricultural, infrastructural, trade activities that have further unfurled the chaos the world currently finds itself in.
But in this episode, the sudden and completely unexpected gas leak not only claimed some lives while it caused an absolute setback to hundreds of others as several were immediately rushed to a nearby hospital in the city of Vishakhapatnam.
A newspaper report published on a leading international daily identified the crux of the problem as it shared the following:
We can confirm at least five deaths right now. More will be confirmed later. At least 70 people in the nearby hospitals are in an unconscious state and overall 200 to 500 locals are still getting treatment (at the hospitals),” said police official Swaroop Rani in the port city of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh state.
She said the incident happened at a plant operated by LG Polymers and that gas leaked out of two 5,000-tonne tanks that had been unattended due to India’s coronavirus lockdown in place since late March.
Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi took to Twitter to address the nation as well as the aggrieved on the episode sharing, ” Spoke to officials of MHA and NDMA regarding the situation in Visakhapatnam, which is being monitored closely.
I pray for everyone’s safety and well-being in Visakhapatnam.”
But it is only upon understanding the magnitude of the episode that you understand what really transpired during the ill-fated event.
While 70 people are currently in an unconscious state, others, measuring in hundreds of numbers are battling for their lives. But implicit in the episode at the plant operated by LG polymers, is that the gas that leaked escaped out of two 5,000-tonne tanks.
But just how did this casualty occur in the first place?
It turns out that the gas leakage occurred owing to the two tanks that had been left unoperated or unattended due to the lockdown scenario.
The AFG News agency also quoted a senior official stating, ” It was left there because of the lockdown. It led to a chemical reaction and heat was produced inside the tanks, and the gas leaked because of that.”