Gas leak in Maha chemical factory leaves people ‘gasping for breath’

We could not even see the building next to ours. All we could see was smog.

THANE: A gas leak occurred at a chemical factory at Badlapur in Maharashtra’s Thane district, due to which a number of people living around the unit faced difficulty in breathing for a few hours, an official said on Friday.

The incident took place late Thursday night and the leakage was plugged within an hour, he said.

“The gas leak was reported around 10.22 pm at the factory in Shirgaon MIDC of Badlapur (East). A chemical reaction due to the overheating of sulfuric acid and benzyl acid led to the incident,” Santosh Kadam, chief of the Regional Disaster Management Cell of Thane Municipal Corporation said.

“As a result, residents living in three kilometre area around the factory complained of breathing problem and irritation in eyes for a few hours,” he said.

Sai Kiran, one of the residents of the area, said, “We could not even see the building next to ours. All we could see was smog. So we immediately called the fire brigade.”

On being alerted, two fire engines from Badlapur Municipal Council and one from Shirgaon MIDC rushed to the spot and plugged the leakage. The situation was brought under control around 11.30 pm, Kadam said, adding that the incident did not result in any major injury.