Couple, their 3 children killed in Ludhiana gas leak; kin share horror
Ludhiana Gas Leak: At least 11 people, including three children, died and several were taken ill after a gas leak incident in Giaspura in Punjab.
At least 11 people, including three children, died and several were taken ill after a gas leak incident in the Giaspura area in Punjab's Ludhiana district on Sunday morning. The source of the leakage and the type of the gas are yet to be ascertained, they added.
Police have sealed the area while a fire brigade and an ambulance have been deployed there. A team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has also reached the site.
Eight persons, including two men, four women and two children, were brought dead to the civil hospital.
Shambhu Narayan of Jamalpur said his 40-year-old nephew Kabilash Kumar and his wife Barsha Devi along with their three children-- 16-year-old Kalpana, Abhay Narayan, 12, and Aryan, 9, -- have died in the incident.
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Ram Murat, a local, said his relative Saurav Goyal, 28, and his wife Triti Goyal, brother Gaurav Goyal along with his mother and eight-month-old boy were trapped in the gas leak. The child is out of danger, while the couple and the mother have died. Gaurav's condition is serious.
Umesh Kumar, another local, said woke up in the morning with a foul smell and a headache. They locked all the doors and windows to prevent themselves from the gas. Later, they decided to move out of the house and shift to the house of one of their relatives.
The area includes a number of shops where mostly labourers working in factories reside. Three establishments - Goyal Cold Drink, Kamal Kiryana and Arti Clinic were affected by the leak in the wee hours. The families of those who run these shops reside on the first floor while the shops are on the ground floor
Deputy commissioner Ludhiana Surabhi Malik said a chemical was suspected to have reacted in manholes. “Samples have been collected from manholes in the area as it is suspected that neurotoxins caused the fatalities,” Malik said.
"Extracting samples from manholes for various kinds of chemical tests. Then we will get more information if possible cause. The gas has been diluted but MC teams, PPCB teams are working to check if any more such chemical reactions are there in the vicinity," she added.
Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann said the incident was very painful and added that all possible help is being provided.
"The incident of gas leak in Giaspura area of Ludhiana is very painful. Teams of police, district administration and NDRF are present on the spot. Every possible help is being provided..," Mann said in a tweet in Punjabi.
