MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st August, 2020) Twenty workers have been poisoned and hospitalized as a result of an ammonia gas leakage at a private dairy company in India's southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh, media reported on Friday.
According to the Hindustan Times daily, the incident took place at the Hatsun Dairy unit in the state's Chittoor district on Thursday at around 9:30 p.m. (15:30 GMT). The workers, 14 of whom were women, were reportedly welding when the gas leaked.
"The condition of three of them is said to be serious, but they are out of danger as they had no other complications. If necessary, they would be shifted to Tirupati hospital for better treatment. They would be under observation for three days," Narayana Bharat Gupta, an official from the Chittoor district administration, was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
The situation was instantly taken under control and all those poisoned were were admitted into the Chittoor state hospital, according to the media outlet. It added that causes of the leakage were currently being investigated.
The incident comes three months after a deadly gas leak occurred in Andhra Pradesh's city of Visakhapatnam. In early May, twelve people died and over 580 others were hospitalized as a result of a styrene leak from a chemical plant. Styrene is a colorless oily liquid used to produce different polymers. Inhaling its vapor causes headaches, and prolonged exposure to the gas causes diseases of the liver and nervous system.
The deadliest-ever gas leak incident occurred in the Indian city of Bhopal in December 1984. The leak of methyl isocyanate from the Union Carbide India Limited plant left at least 3,787 people dead and more than 500,000 injured.
