Nine workers of the Rourkela Steel plant (RSP) were injured after poisonous gas leaked from a blast furnace on Monday.

No casualty has been reported. Eight of the nine sustained critical injuries.

In a media release, the Rourkela Steel Plant said: “Repair work was going on near the clarifier area adjacent to the U-seal of Blast Furnace-5 of SAIL, Rourkela Steel Plant today. At about 10.40am nine people working in the area felt uncomfortable. Out of them 8 people were immediately shifted to Ispat General Hospital and were admitted to ICU for observation and necessary care. All the persons are fine, and their vitals are stable. However, they have been kept under observation as a preventive measure.”

Of the nine, three are RSP employees and six work under contractual agencies.

The three victims who worked at the RSP are Jairam Barik, P.K. Sahoo and Dukhishyam Das. The contractual labourers who sustained injuries are Raju Maity, Santanu Nayak, Laxmi Singh, Suraj Chatri, Pana Soren and Laxmi Singh.

There was no damage to any equipment or pipeline in the area.