New Delhi: After a major gas leak in a chemical plant of LG Polymers at RR Venkatapuram village in Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam district turned out to be a tragedy claiming at least 8 and affecting several others, celebrities from all walks of life thronged Twitter and other social media platforms to express grief over the mishap. 


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South superstar Ravi Teja, Virat Kohli, Payal Rohatgi, Yuvraj Singh, Umesh Yadav, Praneeta Subhash amongst various others took to Twitter to write: 












"The officials are using inhibitors to neutralise the vapours. Slowly the vapours are reducing. It was not arrested fully. They are using neutralisers such as TBC (4-tert-Butylcatechol (TBC)," Joint Chief Inspector of Factories, Visakhapatnam, J Siva Sankar Reddy told PTI.


Exposure to styrene, also known as ethenylbenzene, vinylbenzene can affect the central nervous system (CNS), causing headache, fatigue, weakness, and depression.


It is primarily used in the production of polystyrene plastics and resins, according to experts. "The spread maybe two or three kilometres wide. It depends on the wind speed. We cannot exactly say how many kilometres it has spread to. If the wind flow is heavy, there is a chance that it will spread more in the air," the official added.


Reddy said the chemical plant was not operational due to the lockdown.


"The company was planning to reopen it soon. There were just a few employees -- security guards and maintenance personnel there at the time of the incident," he said. According to Reddy, the firm, which has 350 to 400 employees, has all necessary permits to operate.


The prime minister also called a meeting of National Disaster Management Authority officials at his residence at 11 AM to hold discussions over the incident which has leftover 100 in critical condition. Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also attended the meeting.


(With PTI inputs)