Six people have reportedly died and several others were injured Thursday during a liquid nitrogen leak at the Prime Pak Foods poultry processing plant in Gainesville, GA, local and national news organizations reported.
Crews were sent to the facility at about 10 a.m. after receiving word that someone had suffered burns, according to NBC News. HAZMAT personnel were dispatched just after receiving the initial report.
“It was a leak of unknown cause that has occurred in the system here,” Hall County Fire Department Division Chief Zach Brackett told the Associated Press (AP). “We still have a lot of information we’re trying to gather from the scene.”
Officials said five people died at the scene and one person succumbed to their injuries on the way to a hospital, coverage by news station WCAU said.
The local fire department, the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the state fire marshall are currently conducting an investigation into the incident, the AP account said.
