<p>More than 130 people were hospitalised with breathing difficulties following a chemical leak at a factory in southern Iran, state media reported on Tuesday.</p>.<p>An investigation has been launched into the cause of the leak of nitrogen gas from a soda ash production plant in the city of Firuzabad, the official IRNA news agency said.</p>.<p>"The injured mostly suffered from respiratory problems caused by nitrogen gas, which is not dangerous," the crisis management director for Fars province, Khalil Abdollahi, was quoted as saying.</p>.<p>No one was killed and most of those hospitalised have since been discharged, a provincial medical official said.</p>.<p>Opened in 2020, the Firuzabad Sodium Carbonate Factory has an annual production capacity of 320,000 tonnes, IRNA said.</p>.<p>Also known as soda ash, sodium carbonate is mostly used in the manufacture of detergents, soaps, paper, glass and petrochemical products.</p>
<p>More than 130 people were hospitalised with breathing difficulties following a chemical leak at a factory in southern Iran, state media reported on Tuesday.</p>.<p>An investigation has been launched into the cause of the leak of nitrogen gas from a soda ash production plant in the city of Firuzabad, the official IRNA news agency said.</p>.<p>"The injured mostly suffered from respiratory problems caused by nitrogen gas, which is not dangerous," the crisis management director for Fars province, Khalil Abdollahi, was quoted as saying.</p>.<p>No one was killed and most of those hospitalised have since been discharged, a provincial medical official said.</p>.<p>Opened in 2020, the Firuzabad Sodium Carbonate Factory has an annual production capacity of 320,000 tonnes, IRNA said.</p>.<p>Also known as soda ash, sodium carbonate is mostly used in the manufacture of detergents, soaps, paper, glass and petrochemical products.</p>