2 dead, 16 injured in ammonia gas leak at IFFCO plant in UP

Two Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative officials died and its 16 other employees were injured in a major ammonia gas leak at the fertiliser major's plant at Phulpur near Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh, the firm said on Wednesday.

The gas leakage that took place on Tuesday night around 10.30 pm, however, was restricted and stopped in a short time, the fertiliser cooperative major said in a statement.

The two persons who died in the accident were identified as IFFCO Deputy Manager Abhay Nandan and Assistant Manager V P Singh.

Out of the 16 injured IFFCO employees, including three contract labourers, two have been discharged while 14 others are undergoing treatment in different hospitals, the firm said.

IFFCO said the accident took place as tie rods of an ammonia plunger pump suddenly broke and got detached leading to heavy ammonia leakage.

Following the leakage, IFFCO ordered a technical investigation into the cause of the gas leakage while Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also ordered an administrative probe into the accident.

'We deeply regret the sad and unfortunate accident happened yesterday night around 10.30 pm due to mechanical failure at #IFFCO #Phulpur Ammonia Urea unit in #Prayagraj. Our employees at the site fought bravely to handle the situation,' IFFCO CEO and Managing Director U S Awasthi tweeted on Wednesday.

'Our emergency response group, fire and safety team and plant operating staff bravely fought with the emergency situation and restricted the leakage to small area within the plant and normalized it in a short time,' the IFFCO later said in its statement.

Out of the 16 injured, six were shifted to a hospital in Allahabad, while remaining 10 were admitted to IFFCO township hospital, the IFFCO said in its statement.

'Two of them have been discharged. The condition of the remaining fourteen is stable,' it added.

A technical enquiry committee, headed by an executive director rank officer, has been set up to find out the cause of the incident which took place on Tuesday night, the statement said.

Taking note of the accident, Chief Minister Adityanath also ordered a probe into the incident while announcing a financial help of Rs 4 lakh each for the family members of those who died in the incident.

While condoling the death of two IFFCO officials, CM Adityanath directed to provide financial help to each to their families.

He also ordered a probe into the matter to ascertain its cause and directed officials to provide the best treatment to those admitted in the hospital.