Basra ammonia leak toll rises to two dead, 114 injured

BASRA — Two workers were killed and 114 people injured in Sunday’s ammonia leak at the state fertilizer plant in Khor al-Zubair, the Health Ministry said, more than double the toll reported overnight, with some of the injured staying at the site to shut down pumps that officials feared would explode.

Twenty-one people remain in hospital — 12 at Zubair Hospital, two at Siyab and seven at the Kuwaiti Hospital — all stable except one, the ministry said, with more than 50 ambulances sent to the site.

Injured workers “risked their lives in order to shut down the pumps,” said Basra Gov. Asaad al-Eidani, with the plant’s director general warning that failing to stop them could have caused “a major explosion” affecting nearby areas. “The pumps were brought under control, and the gas at the fertilizer plant was shut off,” Eidani said.

Civil Defense rescue teams and its hazardous materials unit brought 10 employees out of the plant and recovered the bodies of the two dead. “Preliminary inspections showed that the incident resulted from a sudden accidental gas leak,” the directorate said. Security agencies and other authorities have opened an investigation.

The leak reached homes as well as the plant. “An explosion occurred today at the fertilizer plant, and unfortunately ammonia gas was released, which is a toxic gas that can cause death when inhaled,” said Zubair district mayor Abbas Maher.

Civil Defense initially put the toll at two dead and about 50 injured on Sunday night, before Eidani said more than 90 had been hurt.