Dozens of people are receiving medical attention following a ammonia gas leak at a meat factory in India’s Uttar Pradesh state on Thursday, police said.
Police in Aligarh city said the factory workers were taken to hospital immediately and were stable in stable condition.
“Around 45-50 workers including women were at the factory when the leakage started and they fell unconscious. They were rushed to a hospital and are stable,” Police Superintendent Kalanidhi Naithani told The National.
District Magistrate Indra Vikram Singh said an initial investigation found that the leak was caused by a pipe bursting.
“Police are investigating the matter to ascertain if it is a case of negligence. We will take necessary steps,” Mr Singh said.
“The women were engaged in packaging work when the gas leaked this afternoon. Some women had complained of breathing problems,” he said.
“The doctors have informed us that everyone is stable and there is no need for panic. Our priority right now is their treatment.”
It was the second such incident at a food processing plant in two days. More than two dozen workers fell ill after an ammonia leak at a prawn processing unit in eastern Odisha state on Wednesday.
Industrial gas leaks have killed workers across the country.
Six people were killed in January after inhaling toxic gas following an illegal chemical dump at a mill in Gujarat.
Chemicals were illegally discharged into a stream near the mill as people worked inside, police and fire officers said.
Several people also died after a leak at a chemical plant in Visakhapatnam in 2020.
India suffered the world’s worst industrial disaster in 1984 when methyl isocyanate gas leaked from a pesticide factory owned by American Union Carbide Corporation in the city of Bhopal, killing more than 5,000 people.
Updated: September 29, 2022, 8:12 AM