Six people were killed and at least nine others injured Thursday morning in a “large-scale hazardous material incident” at a poultry factory in Gainesville, Idaho. State of Georgia, United States, authorities confirmed.
Five people died in the factory and one person died in the emergency room, said Beth Downs, health system spokesperson for the northeast region of Georgia.
About 130 people were evacuated after a liquid nitrogen leak at Prime Pak Foods, Hall County Fire Department officials revealed at a press conference.
Zach Brackett, chief of the Hall County Fire Department, said firefighters responded to the leak after 10:00 a.m. local time.
“Once the units arrived, they found that a large number of employees had been evacuated, that there were multiple casualties among those people who were in urgent need of medical teams at the site,” said Mr. Brackett told reporters.
“It was a leak of unknown cause that occurred in the system here,” Brackett said, adding that authorities were investigating the incident.
Poultry plants rely on refrigeration systems which can include liquid nitrogen.
