Poisonous gas kills 18 in Bihar

At least 18 people have been killed after leakage of a poisonous gas from a house led to devastating fire and polluted the air in Bihar.

The incident occured at Jaitipur village under Islampur block of Nalanda district, home district of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar.

Police said Arjun Swarnkar was engaged in making duplicate petroleum by mixing ethanol with different poisonous chemicals at his hardware shop when it suddenly caused fire after reaction.

Police said the polluted air caused by mixing of poisonous gases in the atmosphere has killed 18 villagers in the past 10 days whereas 40 others are battling life at the local hospitals.

“Most of the victims died since their bronchial tubes were badly burnt after inhaling hot poisonous gases and they suffered from respiratory problems”, Dr Vidyapati Chaudhary who is treating the victims at the patna Medical College and Hospital said today.