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Five, including fire officials, hospitalised after chlorine gas leak in Madhya Pradesh chemical factory

ODISHA: Two factory workers and three fire brigade personnel were hospitalized following a chlorine gas leakage at a chemical factory in Jaora Industrial Area of western Madhya Pradeshs Ratlam district on Saturday evening. Chaos prevailed in and around a chemical factory in the industrial area, following the leakage of gas from the chlorine tank in the unit. The unit manufactured Ferric Sulphate for Pharma companies. The leakage was reported at around 6 pm from the tank having a capacity of 40 kg. The workers present at the unit first attempted to plug the leakage, but failed. Following it, fire tenders and other rescue teams were rushed to the concerned factory, official sources in Ratlam told TNIE . When the fire brigade personnel rushed to the factory, two workers at an adjoining factory had already developed health problems due to the leaked gas. Three fire brigade personnel also developed health problems and had to be rushed to the government medical college hospital in Ratlam city, where the condition of all five persons is stated out of danger. Two workers who were first admitted at the hospital have already been discharged, while the three fire brigade personnel are stated out of danger, Ratlam district police superintendent Amit Kumar said. Meanwhile, teams from chemical units of Nagda Industrial Area in neighbouring Ujjain district and Ipca Laboratories Pharma company in Ratlam district were called to stop the leakage, which was finally controlled after three hours at around 9.15 pm. According to official sources, the chemical factory where the chlorine gas leak happened in the evening, was not functioning since the last few days and the staff present there, failed to control and plug the leak from the tank. Investigations have started and the concerned chemical units owners and management will be booked for negligence, a senior Ratlam district police officer said. As a precautionary measure, the operations in around ten factories in the vicinity of the chemical unit have been halted till further orders.