A 20-member team of NDRF reached Hazaribag on Friday to find out reason of gas leak in the town on Thursday midnight. The gas leaked from an Ice factory situated at a residential area resulted in one death and more than 20 persons falling unconscious.
Malhar Toli, a residential area of Hazaribagh district headquarters, witnessed a sudden chaos after a gas leak from the ice cream factory late on Thursday night The sudden leakage of gas caused death of Kanchan Devi age 55 year and resident of Malhar Mohall, Hazaribagh, while more than 20 persons were admitted to hospital for treatment.
On Friday afternoon, a 20-member team of NDRF inspected the Ice Factory. Inspector Mohammad Kalam, who is leading the team, said that the gas in the tank has been emptied and now there is no danger. The valve of the gas tank was in a very dilapidated state, which led to gas leakage, he added.
Speaking about the reason of the gas leak Kalam said that Hazaribagh has been in blackout for the last four days. “The factory operator was keen to produce more ice in the same condition. As they are not skilled operators so they are not able to explain about the cooling system. The factory operators were forcing the machine for greater cooling which heated the machine and receiver. Due to this the receiver pipe and the valve got burst and the gas started to leak. If the operator was skilled, they sprayed water on the receiver getting hot but this could not happen and the pipe burst. Experts operating the ice factory said that the section pressure should be at 180 sections,” he added.
“Ammonia gas is prepared by mixing nitrogen and hydrogen gas.
It is not poisonous. But when entering inside the body, it causes difficulty in breathing due to which people can die. This gas causes eye irritation. Due to the leakage of gas in the night, the pigeons had an impact on their eyes and they fell on the ground and died,” said Kalam.
Sanjay Kumar, son of Jagdish Prasad, the operator of the factory, said that due to the power cut the valve got damaged which caused leakage of gas. We tried hard to close the wall but it broke, he added.
Meanwhile, the district administration has allocated six lakh rupees from the State Disaster Redemption Fund for the treatment of gas leak victims. DC Hazaribagh, BP Singh said that necessary action is being taken against the operator by sealing the factory.