59 workers fall ill after ammonia leak at meat export plant in Aligarh

Aligarh (UP): Fifty nine workers fell ill after an accidental leakage of ammonia gas at a meat processing plant on the outskirts of Aligarh city on Thursday morning, a senior official said.

Six people including the owner of the meat plant in the Taklaspur area have been arrested.

All the workers are out of danger and an inquiry has been ordered into the incident that happened in the Rorawar police station area, District Magistrate Inder Veer Singh said.

According to preliminary reports, the leakage took place following the accidental bursting of an ammonia gas pipeline, he said

People should “not believe in any rumours” as all the victims are of out danger. Security arrangements at the factory have been tightened as a precautionary measure, the DM said.

Senior district officials rushed to the spot and 59 workers, including women were taken to the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College hospital (AMU) in an unconscious state, the official said.

Chief medical superintendent Dr Harris Mansoor Khan told PTI that 59 workers were brought to the hospital and after emergency treatment all are “out of danger” and are recovering fast.

Khan further said all the victims were administered oxygen and “all of them should hopefully be discharged by this evening”.