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A28 WORLD NEWS
Friday 8 May 2020
Chemical leak at LG plant in India kills 11, about 1,000 ill

By OMER FAROOQ ed swiftly," LG Chem said
Associated Press in a statement. It is looking
HYDERABAD, India (AP) — into the cause of the leak
A gas leak at a chemical but won't know exactly until
factory owned by a South Indian authorities complete
Korean company in south- their investigation, compa-
ern India early Thursday left ny official Song Chun-seob
at least 11 people dead said.The Vishakhapatnam
and about 1,000 struggling plant is a leading manufac-
to breathe. turer of polystyrene plastic
The chemical styrene, used in India. It employs around
to make plastic and rub- 300 workers, but Song said
ber, leaked from the LG the victims appeared most-
Polymers plant in the city of ly to be local residents.
Vishakhapatnam in Andhra The bowl-shaped coastal
Pradesh state while workers city, an industrial hub, is
were preparing to restart known for frequent gas
the facility after a corona- leak accidents. In Decem-
virus lockdown was eased, ber 2019, a leak from a
officials said. pharmaceutical company
Videos and photos from killed two people.
the area showed dozens of B. Sengupta, a retired sci-
people, including women People carry a woman affected by a chemical gas leak in Vishakhapatnam, India, Thursday, May entist who used to head
and children, lying uncon- 7, 2020. the Central Pollution Con-
scious in the streets, arms Associated Press trol Board, said it appeared
open wide with white froth that normal safety proto-
trailing from their mouths. ated about 3,000 people. started leaking," said Indus- A neurotoxin, styrene gas cols had not been followed
The scene evoked bit- Struggling to breathe, tries Minister M. Goutham can immobilize a person while reopening the LG
ter memories of a major many people lay on the Reddy. within minutes of inhala- Polymers plant.
industrial disaster in 1984 road as passersby helped Residents said the gas leak tion and be deadly at high "When you're working with
that left least 4,000 people them with water. began at about 3:30 a.m, concentrations. a skeleton staff, due to so-
dead and another 500,000 "No one could breathe. I when they were woken by Police Commissioner R.K. cial distancing measures,
injured, according to gov- couldn't see anything for a pungent smell. Meena said about 100 the management should
ernment figures, when some time," Vijay Raju, a lo- Officials said a blanket of people were hospitalized have been additionally
methyl isocyanate leaked cal resident, said by phone. gas spread over a radius and in non-life-threatening careful and followed stan-
from a Union Carbide India "For a moment, I thought I of about 3 kilometers (1.8 condition. dard safety protocols," he
pesticide plant in Bhopal in would die." miles), sickening people in LG Chem Ltd. is South Ko- said.
central India. The leak was suspected at least four villages. Rescu- rea's largest chemical Sengupta said the unusual
Hundreds of people fled to have come from large ers broke open the doors of company and is part of situation of chemical plants
from Thursday's gas leak, tanks left unattended be- village homes which were the LG Corp. conglomer- being shut for weeks meant
some on motorbikes and cause of the strict coro- locked from the inside and ate. The company said it the risks of such incidents
others carried in open navirus lockdown over the found some people who is cooperating with Indian would increase.
trucks. Some who couldn't past six weeks. The lock- had collapsed and trans- authorities to help residents Hours after the gas leak
find vehicles raced away down was eased on Mon- ported them to hospitals. and employees. at Vishakapatnam, seven
barefooted, many with day, allowing neighbor- The leak was stopped by 8 "The gas leakage is now un- workers at a paper mill
small children slung across hood shops and factories a.m., officials said. der control, but the leaked were hospitalized in the
their shoulders. to resume activities. Residents were advised gas can cause nausea and central state of Chhattis-
Police officers, some wear- "Our initial information is to cover their noses and dizziness, so we are invest- garh after a reported gas
ing gas masks, rushed from that workers were checking mouths with wet masks and ing every effort to ensure leak. Three were in critical
house to house and evacu- a gas storage tank when it stay indoors. proper treatment is provid- condition.q

Google affiliate scraps plan for

Toronto smart city project

two years of controversy nomic uncertainty has set ward what it hoped would
over privacy concerns and in around the world and eventually be a 800-acre
amid economic uncer- in the Toronto real estate (325-hectare) develop-
tainty caused by the pan- market, it has become too ment.
demic. difficult to make the proj- But some Canadians
A unit of Google's parent ect financially viable with- balked at the privacy im-
company Alphabet had out sacrificing core parts of plications of giving one
been proposing to turn a the plan," Doctoroff said. of the most data-hungry
rundown part of Toronto's Sidewalk Labs had part- companies on the planet
waterfront into a wired nered with a government the means to wire up ev-
This Tuesday, July 19, 2016, file photo shows the Google logo at community, but Sidewalk agency known as Water- erything from street lights
the company's headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. Labs chief executive Dan front Toronto with plans to to pavement. Changes
Associated Press Doctoroff said in a state- erect mid-rise apartments, were since made to make
By ROB GILLIES abandoned its smart-city ment that it is no longer fi- offices, shops and a school it more palatable but some
Associated Press development in Toronto on nancially viable. on a 12-acre (4.9-hect- celebrated Google's deci-
TORONTO (AP) — Google Thursday after more than "As unprecedented eco- are) site — a first step to- sion to scrap it. q