NEW DELHI – A committee appointed by India’s top environmental court has blamed “gross human failure” and lack of basic safety norms for a gas leak in a South Korean-owned chemical factory that killed 12 people and sickened hundreds.
The committee said the tanks from which the gas leaked May 7 at the LG Polymers plant in Vishakhapatnam, a port city in Andhra Pradesh state, were outdated and lacked temperature sensors.
Workers at the factory were slow to respond to the leak and the chemical company lacked experience in monitoring and maintaining tanks full of chemicals that sat idle for weeks due to India’s coronavirus lockdown, said the committee's report, which was issued Thursday and accessed and reviewed by The Associated Press.