Three die of gas leak in Uttar Pradesh, enquiry ordered

The gas leakage from Amit Hetro Chem factory in Sandila town is believed to have taken place early Saturday. "All the three, who died following the gas leakage, were sleeping in a flour mill situated a few metres away from the factory," Hardoi District Magistrate Awadhesh Kumar Singh Rathore told IANS.

"While a magisterial enquiry has been ordered into the case, a four-member committee has also been constituted to probe whether procedural were being followed by the owners of the factory," he added.

Rathore has instructed the committee to come up with a report within seven days. "Whether the factory had a valid license or norms related to safety aspects were being followed and several such aspects will be probed by the four-member committee that would be headed by additional district magistrate (ADM)," Rathore said here, some 110 km from Lucknow.

Officials are yet to find out what was the gas that leaked. "We have been told that chemicals used in medicines were manufactured in the factory. Experts and technicians are carrying out necessary tests to identify the gas," Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Santosh Kumar told IANS.

"We have detained a chemist of the factory in connection with the incident. He is being interrogated," he added.