Death toll in Vizag gas tragedy mounts to 12

Visakhapatnam, May 8 (IANS) The death toll in Thursday’s gas leak tragedy in this port city rose to 12 on Friday as a man succumbed at a hospital in the early hours of the day, officials said.

A man identified as Gangadhara Chowdary, 32, died at a hospital at Kothavalasa in the early hours of Friday taking the death toll to 12 in the disaster that occurred early on Thursday with the leakage of Styrene from LG Polymers plant on the city outskirts.

Earlier, the Visakhapatnam police released the list of 11 people killed in the incident. They were identified as Meka Krishnamurthy (72), P Varalaxmi (38), Appala Narsamma (45), N Greeshma (9), AN Nani (40), Kundana Shriya (6), A Chandramouli (19), Ganga Raju (48), B Narayanamma (35), AV Nukaraju (60) and P Shankar Rao (40).

The victims belonged to RR Venkatapuram and other villages surrounding the chemical plant.

The autopsy on one body was conducted on Thursday. Officials said the autopsies on the bodies of the remaining victims would be conducted at King George Hospital (KGH) later on Friday.

Over 300 people including 48 children were also affected by the gas leak. They were admitted to various hospitals in the city and the condition of 20 of them stated to be critical.

Officials said 193 people were brought to KGH alone. The condition of some of them has improved and they are likely to be discharged later on Friday.

–IANS

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