Eight people were taken to a hospital for treatment on Monday after a toxic gas leak at Altivia Chemicals’ plant in La Porte, Texas, local officials said.
An update on their condition was not immediately available. The city canceled a shelter-in-place order in the afternoon that had affected several nearby industrial plants, officials said.
Altivia Chemicals said it was working to contain a leak of a gas called phosgene from its plant, as the city’s emergency management agency ordered residents and five neighboring chemical facilities to shelter in place out of caution.
The La Porte office of emergency management (LPOEM) said the fire department and Harris county pollution control confirmed there were no “detectable amounts of immediately hazardous products” near or downwind the facility.
Local media reported all of the eight injured were in stable condition at the time they were leaving the facility but were sent to the hospital as a precaution.
“Eight people were transported from Altivia due to exposure, and all were stable at the time of leaving the facility,” said the Harris county judge, Lina Hidalgo, the county’s top executive, in a social media post on Twitter/X.
“This happens quite frequently, we aren’t surprised,” said Ana Parras, executive co-director at Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services. “What they are producing is chemicals for plastic production, and there has been a rise in incidents” at Texas chemical plants.
Located about 30 miles (48km) east of Houston, LPOEM said the city issued a cautionary shelter-in-place until the amount of phosgene released is determined. The order was lifted about an hour after being put in place.
“A chemical emergency has occurred and residents south of Fairmont between Bay Area and S 16th Street need to immediately shelter in place,” LPOEM said on social media.
The leak was the result of a ruptured pressure release device, Altivia said in a statement. All processes at its La Porte facility have been shut down, and its personnel contained the leak, the company added.
Phosgene is a colorless gas with a suffocating odor similar to musty hay that is used in the manufacture of other chemicals, pesticides and pharmaceuticals, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Exposure to phosgene may cause vomiting, breathing difficulty, chest pain and, when liquid, frostbite.
Halliburton’s Multi-Chem Bayport site, Stepan’s Pasadena facility, and three other sites belonging to Kuraray America, Evonik and NCTI lifted orders to shelter-in-place, according to community alerts.
Reuters contributed to this report