At least one person was killed and around 50 fell ill in an ammonia gas leak at a private dairy plant in Bihar’s Vaishali district on Saturday night.

Over 30 of the seriously affected people were admitted to different hospitals.

The gas leak occurred at the Raj Fresh Milk dairy plant in the Hajipur industrial area around 10pm. The workers said they came to know about it as the pungent smell enveloped the plant.

“We all found it difficult to breathe and see. Our eyes were burning and we ran out of the plant, jumping over a shed. We ran till we could and then collapsed for want of air. We feel lucky to be alive,” said Muhammad Zahid, one of the workers at the dairy plant who is now admitted to Hajipur Sadar Hospital.

However, his colleague Dinanath Singh, a resident of Maner in Patna district, died at the plant during the gas leak. The dairy plant manager Rajiv Kumar said that Singh was bulky and died of cardiac arrest while trying to escape.

It is still not clear how many people were working at the plant when the leak occurred.

The smell of the gas spread in a radius of around 2km of the dairy plant, leading to panic in the industrial area.

The district administration rushed around 15 ambulances to rescue the workers who were either unconscious or seriously ill after coming in contact with ammonia gas.

“An ammonia cylinder exploded at the Raj Fresh Milk dairy plant. One person died in the incident and around 30 to 35 people affected by the gas were brought to Hajipur Sadar Hospital. They are out of danger. Some of them have been discharged. The gas affects the breathing system and leaves a burning sensation,” Vaishali civil surgeon Shyam Nandan Prasad told reporters.

“Some of the affected people have gone to private hospitals. We do not know the exact number of such people. The smell of the gas might have spread far, but its concentration was low and did not lead to much harm,” Prasad added.

The fire brigade rushed to the place of occurrence and took measures to contain the gas leak.

A quick reaction team of the fire services from Patna was also sent to deal with the situation.

“We are investigating the cause of the gas leak. The situation is completely under control as of now,” fire services DSP Ashok Kumar said.