GAS LEAKAGE AT HALDIRAM’S UNIT, 1 DIES

A 42-year-old worker died allegedly after ammonia gas leak at a Noida’s Sector-65 Haldiram’s manufacturing and production unit on Saturday. Police said that more than 300 workers were evacuated from the building safely.

The man who died has been identified as ammonia operator Sanjeev Kumar. According to a senior National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) official, a call regarding the leakage was received at around 12 pm on Saturday following which there was immediate deployment of police, firefighters and the NDRF teams.

“There are two adjoining units of Haldiram’s in the building, one was the production unit and the other was its cooling or the maintenance unit. We sprayed water in the air to neutralise the ammonia, which got mixed in the air in and around the building. The ammonia solution was also used on the condensers to check the leak. The main gas pipeline has been closed since,” said a fire department official.

“The gas leak had occurred through the valve of one of the four ammonia condensers in the maintenance unit where around 22 people were working and evacuated. One of them was taken to a hospital, where he died later,” a police official said.

“More than 300 workers were in the production unit and they were also evacuated immediately and the building marked isolated for the time being,” said the police official.

“A team of NDRF personnel, firefighters and Noida Police officials, including senior officers, were at the spot and the situation was brought under control by 3 pm,” said the police official.

Exposure to high concentrations of ammonia, also used as a refrigerant gas, causes immediate burning of eyes, nose, throat and respiratory tract and can result in blindness, lungs damage or death.