Gas leak leaves 11 dead, as many hospitalized in India

KABUL (Pajhwok): Eleven people died and as many were hospitalized after a gas leak in northern India’s Punjab state on Sunday, media reports said.

The incident occurred at an industrial area in Ludhiana city, but the source of the gas leak is still unclear, police told the Press Trust of India news agency.

India’s National Disaster Response Force sealed off the densely populated area and evacuated residents.

Authorities were trying to ascertain the type of gas in the leak, PTI quoted disaster response officials as saying.

Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner Surabhi Malik told the news agency it was possible that the gas may have spread from manholes.

“We are going to collect samples from manholes. It is quite likely that some chemical reacted with methane in manholes,” she said.

The state’s chief minister, Bhagwant Mann, said the leak came from a factory but didn’t provide more details in a tweet. “All possible help is being provided,” he wrote.

Similar incidents have occurred in India in the past.  A gas leaked from a pesticide plant in the central city of Bhopal in 1984 killed about 3,500 people.

In 2020, a gas leak near a chemical plant in the southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh killed at 11 people. At least 800 were taken to hospital with breathing difficulties and irritated skin.

At least 200 pupils were admitted to hospital after a gas leak in 2017 near their school in southern New Delhi.

sa/ma

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