At least one labourer died and several others were injured in a stampede-like situation following an ammonia gas leak at a dairy factory in Bihar’s Vaishali district. The gas leak happened between 10 pm on Saturday, at Raj Fresh Dairy in Vaishali’s Hajipur, while the staff was working inside the factory.
As soon as the gas leakage was noticed, all the workers tried to run out of the building to save themselves.
In the panic. a stampede-like situation that was created, due t which one of the workers fell down in the rush and lost his life, according to Rajiv Kumar, manager of the factory.
“This gas leak incident occurred at around 10.05 pm yesterday. One worker has died while trying to evacuate from the dairy. Seven to eight workers were exposed to the leaking gas, but all are out of danger now. The situation in the plant is under control," said Kumar told news agency ANI.
“Because of the leakage, the workers that were at work started evacuating to save themselves. But the situation is under control now and the broken pipe has also been repaired," he added.
Police said the gas leaked from an ammonium cylinder in Raj Fresh Dairy.
After authorities were informed, several fire tenders were rushed to the spot to control the situation. The affected labourers were admitted to the hospital and are undergoing treatment. All of them are out of danger but are kept under medical observation.
“As of now, we have information that some labours have been admitted to a hospital. We are investigating the cause of the leakage. The situation is under control now," Dr Ashok Kumar, DSP, Fire Department said while speaking to ANI.
According to Shankar Kumar, one of the labourers who was exposed to the leaking gas, labourers were doing their daily work, when suddenly they saw smoke
“All of us started running outside to save ourselves from the suffocation. But in the meantime, we had inhaled some of the poisonous gas. All of us started feeling dizzy but now most of us are feeling better," said Shankar.
“The Ammonia pipe had leaked, after which panic was created. The pipe was repaired and controlled on time but still, it caused a lot of damage within minutes. I’m feeling much better now," said Krishna, another worker at the factory.
(With ANI inputs)