A tragic gas leak incident at a factory in the Giaspura area of Ludhiana in Punjab, northern India, has left 11 people dead, including two children aged 10 and 13. The incident has also resulted in four other people falling ill and being treated at a hospital. The nature and source of the gas are not yet known, and a 50-member team from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has been sent to the site to investigate. The affected area has been cordoned off, and the immediate priority is to evacuate the densely populated area.
Swati Tiwana, Sub Divisional Magistrate, Ludhiana, confirmed that the incident was a gas leak and that the NDRF team is present at the site to conduct the rescue operation. The Deputy Commissioner of Ludhiana, Surabhi Malik, suspects that a chemical may have reacted with methane in the manholes, causing the gas contamination. The NDRF team is collecting samples from the manholes to verify this theory.
The incident has caused widespread sadness, and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has promised that all possible help will be provided to the victims and their families. Industrial gas leaks are not uncommon in India, and this incident has again highlighted the need for strict safety measures to be put in place to prevent future incidents. The authorities have sealed off the area and evacuated the residents, and investigations are ongoing to determine the source of the gas leak.
The incident is reminiscent of other industrial disasters that have occurred in India, such as the 1984 chemical leak in a pesticide plant in Bhopal, which killed thousands of people and remains the world’s worst industrial disaster. Three years ago, a gas leak at a chemical plant killed at least 12 people in the city of Visakhapatnam. These incidents highlight the importance of stringent safety regulations and the need for regular checks to ensure the safety of workers and the public in and around factories and other industrial sites
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