Ammonia gas leak in US’ Oklahoma lead to dozens of hospitalisations, hundreds evacuated

Dozens were taken to hospital and hundreds others evacuated from a city in US’ Oklahoma after a tanker truck that was leaking in a hotel parking lot spewed a plume of anhydrous ammonia gas, authorities said on Thursday.

The gas release happened shortly before 10 p.m. on Wednesday. People in the immediate area were in respiratory distress.

“It was a little crazy to wake up to,” Blackwell told KWTV-TV. “I really thought it was a kind of dream.” She said she was sitting in her car, still wearing her pajamas.

Authorities said the air quality was being monitored and that the tanker truck was no longer spewing gas, but that a lack of wind was slowing efforts to dissipate it. A number of agencies were on hand to assist, including hazmat crews and an Oklahoma National Guard unit that supports first responders during emergencies.

An exit from Interstate 40 to Weatherford was shut down, authorities said.

Shelter in place order lifted

A shelter-in-place order, which was placed for 500-600 people, was lifted by officials on Thursday, hours after firefighters wearing gas masks went door to door in Weatherford, waking people up and telling them to leave because of the anhydrous ammonia leak.

An oil field worker staying at the hotel where the truck had been parked said he heard a “faint pop” Wednesday night and noticed a smell minutes later. He and a coworker left their room and hustled into a hallway and then an elevator filling up with a pungent odor.

Once outside, they saw their vehicles underneath a cloud of ammonia, said Michael Johnson, of Nacogdoches, Texas. “The smell itself punched me,” he said.

He took off running, but noticed his roommate wasn’t with him and saw that he had run for their trucks. He said a police officer managed to save his coworker.

“His lips were purple and frozen shut,” Johnson said. “His eyes were bloodshot red. His skin was all red.”

Anhydrous ammonia is used as a fertilizer to help provide nitrogen for corn and wheat plants. If a person touches it when it is in gas or liquid form, they could be burned. Last week, an anhydrous ammonia leak caused by an explosion at a plant north of Yazoo City, Mississippi, prompted evacuations for nearby residents.

Johnson found one person stumbling and gave him a shirt to put over his mouth. At one point, he looked at the smoke and saw they were surrounded, thinking “We’re going to die.”

Weatherford has about 12,000 residents and is about 70 miles (113 kilometres) west of Oklahoma City.