Thick smoke from oil refinery triggers panic among locals in Vizag

Thick plumes of smoke seen rising from a Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited plant in the city on Thursday afternoon triggered panic among locals.

Thick plumes of smoke seen rising from a Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited plant in the city on Thursday afternoon triggered pc among locals.

The smoke was released from a CDU (Crude Distillation Unit) of at HPCL, which according to company official occurred due to a "technical snag" at the unit and the situation was immediately brought under control.

HPCL PRO Kalidas told : "Due to a technical snag and temperature issues plant-3 restarted, thick smoke came out when the plant was started. Immediately a team of HPCL technical swung into action and took immediate measures to stop smoke, catalyst backup, situation under controlled and resumed operations."

The situation is currently under control, he said.

The incident comes in the wake of Styrene gas leak from LG Polymers plant near a village of RR Venkatapuram in Visakhapatnam, in which 12 people lost their lives and 600 others were hospitalised.

( With inputs from ANI )