Following a gas leak in northern India, at least 11 people have perished. Among those killed in the port city of Ludhiana in the Punjab province were women and children. Numerous people were discovered unresponsive in their homes.
After numerous people reported breathing problems, the area was shut off and the residents were evacuated. Four people are receiving hospital care. The origin of the leak has not yet been formally acknowledged.
High levels of hydrogen sulphide gas were discovered in the region, according to a district administration official statement, an Indian Newspaper said.
Gas Leak Eye-Witnesses
Surabhi Malik, the deputy commissioner of Ludhiana, was reported by the PTI news agency as stating, “We are going to collect samples from manholes. It is quite likely that some chemical reacted with methane in manholes.”
Local lawmaker Rajinder Pal Kaur Chhina told Reuters that the event took place close to a milk store. “People who came to buy milk in the morning, fell unconscious outside,” she said.
The site is in the Giaspura neighborhood of Ludhiana, and a team from the National Disaster Response Force has been dispatched there. Nearby are some factories. In India, industrial gas leaks are not uncommon.
In the Andhra Pradesh state’s Visakhapatnam, a gas leak at a chemical facility resulted in at least 12 fatalities three years ago.
The greatest industrial disaster in history occurred in the central city of Bhopal in 1984 when a chemical leak in a pesticide plant resulted in the deaths of thousands of people.
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