Fire mishap at container yard near Visakhapatnam Airport

Panic ensued at a container yard, near Visakhapatnam Airport, as the bulk chemicals inside the storage vessel broke into flames on Monday afternoon. Preliminary reports suggest that a toxic chemical – Aluminium Fluoride caught fire, resulting in the mishap at the container yard.

According to sources, as soon as the fire mishap happened, thick smoke billowed out, surrounding the container yard. Reportedly, the local fire department was immediately alerted. Two fire engines reached the location to extinguish the flames. The exact cause behind the fire accident is yet to be ascertained. The incident has triggered panic among the residents in the locality.

Unfortunately, this fire accident marks the fourth industry mishap in Vizag in the recent past. Earlier in May, with the release of lethal styrene gas from LG Polymers Plant in Vizag, as many as five villages including RR Venkatapuram, Nandamuri Nagar, Kamparapalem, Padmanabha Nagar, and SC were affected. Several hundreds of individuals from these localities had fallen ill after inhaling the toxic gas. Cattle and other animals were also affected by the tragedy. Trees too had paid the price as the gas withered their leaves.

The leak of hydrogen sulphide at Sainor Life Sciences Private Ltd, a pharma company located at Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City in Parwada, happened even as the tragic memories of styrene gas leak from LG Polymers plant were still fresh in the public minds. While two of the employees lost their lives, four individuals fell sick after inhaling the gas and were rushed to the hospital.

The series of industrial disasters continued as a major fire broke out at Ramky CETP Solvent’s building in Pharma City, Paravada, on 12 July. The locals claimed that they heard around a dozen blasts before the premises went up in flames. At least 12 fire tenders were deployed to extinguish the flames. The situation was finally brought under control after four hours of firefighting operations.