6 employees dead after liquid nitrogen leak at Georgia poultry plant

ATLANTA — Working in the hardscrabble poultry processing industry is a dangerous job, but death in a freezing fog of liquid nitrogen vapor is not among the assumed risks.

That sudden, brutal fate was shared by six employees of a Gainesville poultry plant Thursday morning after a liquid nitrogen line ruptured, killing them and injuring several of their co-workers and first responders.

Five people died at the scene on Memorial Park Drive, and 12 others were taken to the emergency room at Northeast Georgia Medical Center with injuries, officials said. One of those patients died at the hospital.

All six who died were employees of the Foundation Food Group. Their names have not been released.

“All these folks that came into work today did not have any idea of what would happen, nor did their families,” Hall County Sheriff Gerald Couch told reporters during one of two news conferences near the plant. “They’re not in a profession where you would expect something like this to happen, but here we are.”

Of the remaining 11 patients, three were critical, five were in fair condition and three had been released from the hospital, officials confirmed Thursday afternoon. The hospital was able to take all of the patients needing emergency care despite handling a high volume of COVID-19 patients.

Jameel Freed, one of roughly 130 employees evacuated from the plant, described the chaos immediately after the nitrogen leak around 10:15 a.m. Eastern time.

“I couldn’t see nothing but fog at the bottom of the steps,” Freed told WSB-TV, adding that he was searching for his line leader one floor below him. “It was too thick and I couldn’t go down there so I turned back.”

The cause of the leak is unknown and remains under investigation, said Hall County Fire Services spokesman Zach Brackett, who added that there was no explosion.

Employees were transported to a nearby church for medical evaluation. Among those hospitalized, three were Gainesville firefighters and one was a Hall County firefighter. Brackett said the Hall firefighter was being treated for respiratory issues and could be released Friday.