10,000 residents evacuated from Chinese city after toxic gas leak at fertiliser plant
More than 10,000 residents were evacuated from a suburb in the outskirts of a city in Sichuan province on Monday night after a toxic gas leaked from a fertiliser plant, reports West China City Daily.
Residents were told by the local government to evacuate Dingshui district in the city of Nanchong at about 10.30pm after liquid ammonia started to leak from a pipe at the Chuanlong Chemical Company, the newspaper said.
Many of the people left the area on foot and on motorcycles and by car, resulting in big traffic jams on roads leading out of Dingshui.
At least one middle-aged man passed out after inhaling the toxic gas when he was only about 100 metres from the leaking pipe at the plant, a fireman told the newspaper.
The man was taken to hospital but the newspaper report did not give details about his condition, or if other people had also been taken ill because of the leak.
Local authorities said they informed nearby residents to evacuate the area immediately after the leak was discovered. They have also launched an investigation into the accident.
The fireman said emergency workers had seen white gases spewing out of the pipe, the newspaper reported.
The leakage was brought under control on Tuesday morning, but the air near the plant continued to smell strongly of ammonia, West China City Daily reported.
Ammonia is a highly toxic gas with a pungent smell. Exposure to high levels of the gas can lead to death as the result of swelling in the throat or chemical burns to lungs.
Some residents in the area have complained that the fertiliser plant should not have been built in such a densely populated area.
