The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India on May 7 expressed shock and pain over the gas leak in Visakhapatnam, a port city in Andhra Pradesh State. “From the reports it is noted that many have died and scores are ill, and the accident has created mass panic in several areas,” says a press statement from the conference.

At least 11 people were dead and more than 1,000 fell ill on May 7 after gas leaked overnight from a chemical plant of a multinational firm near Visakhapatnam.

Lima Joshi, a Catholic lay-woman living in Vishakhapatnam, told Matters India over phone that people felt breathlessness when they came out of their houses. “Many fell on the ground unconscious,” she added. According to her, the gas spread over a 4-km radius of an LG Polymers factory. “People started running away from their homes. Many died on the spot and many are admitted in hospitals.”