About 250 people, including children, have fallen sick and hundreds of residents have been evacuated from their homes after a toxic gas leak from a fertiliser unit in Bangladesh’s port city of Chittagong, officials said on Tuesday.
Di-ammonium phosphate (DPA) leaked from the DAP Fertiliser Company Limited on the bank of Karnaphuli river on Monday night and fire-fighters battled until late morning to plug the leakage.
DPA is one of a series of water-soluble ammonium phosphate salts that can be produced when ammonia reacts with phosphoric acid.
Reports quoting officials said one of the gas tanks with 500 tonne capacity leaked at around 11.30 pm on Monday night.
The gas quickly spread across large parts of the city. Strong winds blew the gas across a 10-km radius and reports suggested that people felt breathing problems at the southern city’s international airport. “The gas spread from the unit causing breathing problems to the people across several kilometres,” officer-in-charge of the nearby police station said.
