New Delhi: 15 people fell ill in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district after chlorine gas leaked during the demolition of an old water tank reservoir in the Public Health Engineering Department of the district, reported news agency ANI.
The affected people were rushed to Lalbagh Subdivision Hospital after they complained of suffocation, while two seriously ill patients have been shifted to Berhampur Medical College, said Jiten Pal, Lalbagh Fire Station incharge.
Pal added that the incident took place after JCB machines at work “broke it by mistake.”
“JCBs at work broke it by mistake. People complained of suffocation, were rushed to Lalbagh Subdivision Hospital. Water used from fire engines to douse out gas at location. 2 seriously ill shifted to Baharampur Medical College,” said Pal, quoted by the news agency.
In February this year, three contract workers had died after a mishap took place at Durgapur Steel Plant in the state during a maintenace job. The union leader had alleged that the workers died after after inhaling toxic gas as they fell unconscious while working at the Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) converter, news agency PTI had reported.
All three of them had been rushed to hospital where one of them was declared dead on arrival while the other two succumbed in course of the treatment, the news agency had reported.