Bhopal gas tragedy to GAIL gas leak: A look back at the history of major gas-leak incidences in India

A gas leak from LG Polymers plant in Vaizag’s RR Venkatauiram claimed at least 11 lives including a minor and had hospitalised around 200 people on Thursday.

With this case, it makes one wonder about the safety standards followed by the chemical industries, as the incidences of gas leaks have happened several times in the past too. Here is the number of times that such gas leaks have claimed lives in India in the past: 

This tragedy added value to the question about the maintenance of chemical factories. In the infamous tragedy, thousands lost their lives after being exposed to methyl isocyanate from the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide Plant in Bhopal on December 2-3, 1984.

On 27, June 2014, the blast of a gas-line maintained by the Gas Authority of India Limited at Nagaram, East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh started a fire that killed 15, injured around 40 people and left its mark on earth in the form of a crater. The reports stated that this occurred due to the ignorance of the authorities responsible as no action was taken even after a complaint was made about the gas leak.

Coincidentally, in the same year and month of the GAIL gas leak, there was a leakage in the methane gas pipeline at the Bhilai Steel Plant in the Durg district in Chhattisgarh, which claimed the lives of 6 employees of the industry.

The gas leak history in Delhi happened in Tughlaqabad when a poisonous gas leaked from a container depot situated near a school. After this incident, around 470 school children were hospitalized after they complained of eye irritation, nausea, and severe headache.

In 2018 Chhattisgarh witnessed yet another blast due to a gas leak at the Bhilai Steel Plant, a state-owned Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL). This incident killed 9 employees.