Seventeen workers were hospitalised after a gas leak incident occurred in a food processing unit in the Yavat area of Pune district, Maharashtra on Wednesday. According to police, seventeen workers were taken to hospital following an ammonia gas leak.
The food processing unit, which is located at Bhandgaon near Yavat, manufactures ready-to-eat food. Ammonia gas is used to keep the temperatures below 18 degrees Celsius which is required for a food processing unit.
Narayan Deshmukh, Senior Police Inspector at Yavat Police Station said, "On Wednesday, ammonia leaked in one of the sections. At the time of the incident, 25 people, mostly women, were working."
Seventeen of the workers were affected by the gas leak, a woman among them more than the others as she was closest to the leakage point, Deshmukh said.
"After the leak, the main regulator was switched off, and the affected workers were rushed to a hospital with complaints of breathlessness and uneasiness. Sixteen of the workers are stable. The woman who was directly exposed to the gas is currently undergoing treatment in the ICU. She is under observation but her condition is stable and she is out of danger," he added.
(With PTI inputs)