A gas leak on Sunday in Ludhiana, the northern state of Punjab, has left no fewer than eleven people dead and four more hospitalized, local media reported.
The incident occurred at an industrial area in Ludhiana city, but the source of the gas leak is still unclear, police told the Press Trust of India news agency.
All of the victims were found near three businesses in Ludhiana’s Giaspura industrial area — a dairy store, a grocery store and a clinic.
Among the dead were three children — aged 9 to 16 — from the same family, local police officials said.
Some lived in apartments above the storefronts.
The area is home to clothing factories and the people who work there, including hundreds of migrant workers from the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
India’s National Disaster Response Force sealed off the densely populated area and evacuated residents.
Authorities were trying to ascertain the type of gas in the leak, PTI quoted disaster response officials as saying.
Rajinder Pal Kaur Chhina, a member of the local legislature, reached the scene about 30 minutes after the first reports started to spread on Sunday morning.
She said she saw about a half-dozen people lying unconscious on the street near the dairy store.
“All these people had gone to buy milk,” Ms. Chhina said by phone. “We are trying to evacuate people from the neighboring areas.”
Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner Surabhi Malik told the news agency it was possible that the gas may have spread from manholes.
“We are going to collect samples from manholes. It is quite likely that some chemical reacted with methane in manholes,” she said.
The state’s chief minister, Bhagwant Mann, said the leak came from a factory but didn’t provide more details in a tweet. “All possible help is being provided,” he wrote.
AFP
