NEW DELHI, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- At least 15 children have been hospitalized after they fell unconscious following an ammonia gas cylinder explosion in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh Wednesday, police said.
The explosion took place at a cold storage facility in Madhya Pradesh's Chhindwara district, some 300 km away from state capital Bhopal.
"Some 15 students at Bharatiya Vidya Mandir school lost consciousness soon after the cylinder exploded in the nearby cold storage facility. All of them were rushed to a nearby hospital," a senior police official said.
Local TV channels quoted a doctor at the hospital as saying that the students were all out of danger, but would be kept under observation.
The head of the district administration, Dete Jain, along with senior officials, have rushed to the spot to assess the situation, he said. "Nearby schools have been evacuated and a probe has also been ordered into the incident," the official added.
Gas leak incidents are not uncommon in India, the notable being the Bhopal gas tragedy.
Some 4,000 people were killed when methyl isocyanate gas and other chemicals leaked from the U.S.-based Union Carbide's pesticide plant in the city in 1984. The incident was considered the world's worst industrial disaster.
