Thick Smoke From HPCL Refinery Creates Panic In Vizag

VISAKHAPATNAM: Just weeks to the LG Polymers gas leak incident, thick fumes of smoke emitting from Viskahapatnam's Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) refinery on Thursday has created panic in people residing in the surrounding areas of the plant.

Heavy fumes emitted into the air in the process of opening the CDU-3 at the HPCL refinery, according to reports.

Residents got worried seeing brown fumes spread into the air around the factory premises. Just sometime later, the fumes were exhausted.

Taking people into confidence, officials said that there is nothing to worry about the fumes and that it is not hazardous to health.

Officials said that it is a common phenomenon that dense fumes will come out while cracking the fluid catalysts.

On August 23, 2013, twenty-eight workers working in HPCL were killed and 18 were injured in a fatal accident when a cooling tower in the refinery was exploded.

It was on May 7 this year that styrene gas leak from the LG Polymers plant in RR Venkatapuram village of Visakhapatnam district resulted in the death of 12 persons and left thousands of people.

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