At least 6 persons were killed and 20 were injured in a chemical discharge from a vehicle in Gujarat’s Surat’s Sachin GIDC region early Thursday. The victims were all sent to the Surat Civil Hospital for treatment.
Basant Pareek, the Surat Municipal Corporation’s in-charge Chief Fire Office, said that at least six workers died in a hospital after becoming unconscious after breathing harmful fumes from a chemical truck parked near their facility in the Sachin GIDC region.
The workers were sleeping inside the plant at the time of the tragedy. They were taken to the New Civil Hospital, he said. The fire department, which was notified of the situation around 4.25 a.m., closed the valve and stopped the fumes from leaking. According to reports, the tanker that leaked was filled with Jerry Chemical.
According to reports, the chemical came into contact with the air as the truck driver attempted to dispose of the waste in a sewer, resulting in disaster. According to reports, the tanker was travelling from Vadodara, and the driver was attempting to illegally dump the chemical waste in a drain near the Sachin GIDC. The six workers died while working in a saree mill in the Sachin GIDC region and drinking tea in an adjacent shop when the spilt chemical engulfed them.
The tanker’s driver left the scene as the gas escaped. Police have arrived on the scene and have launched an investigation to find the tanker’s driver and owner.