Bhubaneswar: Nine employees were injured, eight critically, after a poisonous gas reportedly leaked from a blast furnace at Rourkela Steel Plant, on Monday.
According to sources, labourers suffered asphyxiation due to carbon monoxide (CO) at the plant’s no 5 blast furnace. All of them were rushed to Ispat General Hospital (IGH) without delay. They were shifted to the ICU as their condition was stated to be critical.
The gas leak incident at Rourkela Steel Plant is not the first of its kind. Despite numerous gas leaks at the plant in the past, resulting in injuries and loss of lives of many workers, the plant authorities have not taken any concrete steps to ensure the safety of the workers, it is alleged.
Notably, a toxic gas leak at the Rourkela Steel Plant in Odisha killed four workers and injured seven others on January 6, 2021.
