Gas Leak In India Leaves 11 Dead, 4 Hospitalized

At least 11 people were killed and four others were hospitalised on Sunday following a gas leak at an industrial complex in the Indian state of Punjab.

The accident occurred in Giaspura and it is the latest in a series of industrial accidents in the country.

The Police Commissioner, Mandeep Singh Sidhu, said that the cause of the leak was yet to be ascertained.

“When the blood sample is matched with the sample that the NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) team takes, only then will we be able to tell you the exact cause, which kind of gas”,  he added.

The victims of the accident included five women and two boys aged 10 and 13.

Industrial gas leaks are common in India. In August last year, at least 112 women were hospitalised after a gas leak at an apparel manufacturing plant in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

That followed a similar accident in June when around 200 women fell unconscious after a gas leak in the same area.

Also, in 2020, at least 15 people were killed and hundreds hospitalized after a gas leak at a chemical plant in Visakhapatnam, an industrial port city in the same state.