Basra ammonia leak leaves two dead, 90 affected

Shafaq News- Basra (Updated at 22:55)

Two people died and 90 others suffered breathing difficulties after an ammonia gas leak at the Southern Fertilizer Plant in Basra’s Khor Al-Zubair industrial area on Sunday, local authorities told Shafaq News.

Al-Zubair District Mayor Abbas Maher said the affected included plant workers and residents living near the facility.

Most cases were mild and those affected had already left the hospital, he said, while several others were transferred to Al-Zubair Hospital for further monitoring.

Civil Defense teams fully evacuated the fertilizer plant and rescued all workers who had remained trapped inside, a Shafaq News correspondent reported.

A medical source said one of those killed worked in the plant’s precision-instruments department and the other in its compressor section. Both died in hospital despite attempts to treat them.

Authorities have not yet announced the cause of the leak.

Ammonia is widely used in fertilizer production. Exposure to high concentrations can severely irritate the eyes and respiratory system, cause breathing difficulties and lung injury, and at very high levels can be fatal.