62 hospitalised as ammonia gas leaks from Kurukshetra cold storage

Tribune News Service

Kurukshetra, February 19

At least 100 people were impacted, with over 60 fainting, after they inhaled ammonia gas that leaked from a cold storage plant on the Nalvi-Shahbad road in Kurukshetra district of Haryana in the wee hours of Wednesday.

Two of them became seriously ill and were admitted to the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) Hospital in Kurukshetra, some 100 km from the state capital. The police evacuated 100 people from residential areas close to Hargobind cold storage at Nalvi village. The cold store is used to store potato.

The leakage had triggered panic in Shahabad with nearly 60 people being taken to CHC Shahabad late on Tuesday night. About 250 people were shifted to a safer place.

Barricades were installed to stop commuters from going towards the affected area. There is a Bazigar colony near the cold store and the gas not only spread towards the colony, but it also affected the commuters travelling on motorcycles.

They had to leave their bikes on the road to escape the ill-effects of the gas. Several people complained of dizziness, burning sensation in the eyes and uneasiness, but timely action by the administration controlled the situation. Fire tenders and ambulances were pressed into service. Sub-fire officer Gurmail Singh, who reached the spot with his team, managed to detect the leakage and control the situation. A driver of the fire brigade and a fireman also became unconscious.

A fireman said, “Around 8.48 pm, we got information about the gas leakage. It was hard to enter the cold store premises due to leakage. Several motorcycles were lying on the road as commuters were not able to open their eyes due to burning sensation. It took nearly one-and-a-half hours to control the situation.”

SMO CHC Shahabad Dr Rupinder Saini said, “As many as 62 people were brought till 6 am. Of them, 22 were admitted and three were referred to LNJP Kurukshetra. The remaining were OPD patients.

“No patient arrived in an unconscious condition. They were complaining of burning sensation in the eyes and uneasiness in breathing. All those admitted here have been discharged. The ones who were referred to LNJP are also stable and will get discharged today. A team of doctors has visited the affected area and there is problem now,” Dr Rupinder Saini said.

Shahabad MLA Ram Karan Kala said, “The situation was very bad. The valve was turned off and the situation was controlled.”

DSP Surinder Singh said, “The people who were evacuated from the Bazigar colony returned to their houses in the morning. The affected people were also discharged from the hospital. We have not received any complaint so far.”

Deputy Commissioner Dhirendra Khadgata said, “A committee is being formed to find out the cause of the incident. If there is any lapse on the part of the store owner, an FIR will be registered and the licence will be cancelled. Taking precautionary measures, we have asked the people to stay away from the store today and a team will inspect the cold store on Thursday.”