The state government on Friday constituted a high-power committee to investigate the factors that led to the gas leak from LG Polymers in Vizag that left 12 dead and hundreds of others hospitalized.

The government issued a GO in this regard. The high-power committee comprises senior IAS officers, including chief principal secretary Neerab Kumar Prasaad, Pollution Control Board member Vivek Yadav, district Collector of Visakhapatnam Vinay Chand, City Police Commissioner Rajiv Kumar Meena. The committee has been tasked to conduct a thorough probe into the gas leak and submit a report within a month.

On Thursday, Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy who flew to Vizag to take stock of the situation had set up a high-level ministerial committee comprising Health Minister Alla Nani, tourism minister Avanti Srinivas, Minister of Agriculture and Cooperation Kurasala Kannababu and Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development Botsa Satyanarayana. The ministerial panel will hold a meeting on Friday to discuss the situation arising out the gas leak

The death toll from the toxic gas leak in the Vizag suburb of R R Venkatapuram rose to 12 on Friday when one more gas leak victim succumbed after inhaling toxic fumes from LG Polymers Company. Hundreds of gas leak victims were still undergoing treatment at various hospitals, some of them are critical. Nearly 24 hours after a major gas leak in South Korean LG Polymers Company, news of thick fumes billowing out of the gas tanks in the factory for the second time on Friday midnight had people scurry for their lives.

Terrified people came out of their houses with their faces covered. As rumors spread over the burst of gas tank and second wave of gas leak from the LG Polymers, thousands of residents from Pendurthi, Adivivaram, Pinigadu, Simhachalam, Bhaji Bazaar, Gopalapatnam, Sujath Nagar, NID, Prahaladapuram and Vepagunta ran out of their homes in panic. Some drove out their houses, many of the residents walked miles to escape the second wave of gas leak.