Second case of gas leak in two weeks, Punjab again suffers due to gas lekage.

Due to gas leakage in Nangal town of Ropar district of Punjab on thursday from an industrial unit, twenty five school children and one teacher of St. Soldier Divine School were hospitalized. One of them is critical and has been referred to PGI Chandigarh.

The complaints of breathlessness and nausea were reported at 8am by students and staff members after which the school was evacuated and shutdown for one day was declared.The affected school has a strength of around 2,700 children and 135 teachers and 80 other staff members .YP Kaushal , School Director said that all children and staff members including teachers were out of danger.

PPCB Chairman Adarsh Pal Vig stated that the preliminary investigations point out the leakage of ammonia gas from National Fertilizer Limited (NFL) plant at Nangal. Initially PACL was also suspected for leakage of gas but further it was investigated that it was not chlorine gas that was leaked but ammonia gas.

A team comprising of the Punjab Pollution Control Board officials and district officials has been setup to look into the matter further and prevent the incidence of such cases.

Report by Manmeet

Graphics by Shreya Suman