Rail Car Gas Leak Sends 28 to Hospital in Missouri
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FESTUS, Mo. — Twenty-eight people were hospitalized for breathing problems Wednesday after a leak in a railroad car at a chemical plant sent a yellowish cloud of chlorine gas spewing into the air in a rural area of eastern Missouri, police said.
A spokesman for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department said the leak at DPC Enterprises, a chemical distribution and production company about 35 miles south of St. Louis, was contained by midafternoon. The cause of the leak was not known.
Only one of the people hospitalized was admitted overnight because of chlorine inhalation, a spokeswoman at Jefferson Memorial Hospital said. The others were released after being treated for respiratory distress, shortness of breath, coughing or nausea.
Residents and businesses in the immediate area were evacuated after the incident, police said.
All 12 of the plant’s truck drivers and packaging employees also were evacuated.
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