Bokaro, March 8: Sixteen people were rushed to hospital after complaining of gas leak from the pipeline and dust catcher of blast furnace I of the Bokaro steel plant today.

The condition of three of them, including a woman, is critical.

A plant official, who at first did not rule out the possibility of a gas leak, changed his opinion later. He said the contract labourers, working under private firm Prabhat Associates and Company for several years, fell ill because of food poisoning.

“All the 16 workers were brought to the hospital because of food poisoning as they had eaten together,” Bokaro steel plant chief of communications Sanjay Tewary said. But he agreed that the condition of two of them was serious.

According to an eyewitness, after the lunch break, more than 12 workers started vomiting after “inhaling” gas that had leaked. Many even fell down on the railway track near the blast furnace area.

An alarm was raised immediately by which time other contract labourers also complained of feeling ill.

Senior officials of the plant were apprised and they rushed the labourers to the hospital. Work at the site stopped immediately.

By then panic spread and other workers scampered for safety.

Senior BJP leaders, including state president P.N. Singh, MLA C.P. Singh and another MLA of the same party Yogeshwar Batul, reached the hospital and met the injured workers who narrated the incident.

P.N. Singh said the gas leak took place due to ill maintenance of some machines, including the blast furnace pipeline, and added that “BSL should take precautionary measures to avoid such mishaps in future”.