8 fall ill after gas leak at Orissa steel plant

BHUBANESWAR - At least eight people fell ill early Sunday after inhaling a toxic gas that reportedly leaked from a blast furnace of a steel plant in Orissa’s Sundergarh district, police said.

The gas leaked from a blast furnace at the state-run Rourkela steel plant Sunday. The steel plant at Rourkela is 514 km from state capital Bhubaneswar.

Five workers and three officers of the plant were hospitalised. “The condition of four of them was critical, but now they are out of danger,” Superintendent of Police Diptesh Kumar Patnaik told IANS.

He said the leak has been contained by the plant authorities.