The Texas city of Deer Park is under a shelter-in-place order following a chemical leak at a PEMEX plant. Image courtesy of Harris County Sheriff’s Office/Facebook
At least one person is dead and five others are injured following a chemical leak at a PEMEX facility in the Houston suburb of Deer Park that has tens of thousands sheltering in place.
PEMEX, a Mexican state-owned petroleum company, said in a statement that two other deaths had yet to be confirmed. Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said one of the injured had been airlifted from the scene by a Life Flight helicopter Advertisement
The gas leak was reported at one of PEMEX’s processing units at its Deer Park refinery, located at 5900 Highway 225, at about 4:40 p.m. local time, the company said.
Originally described as an unknown chemical release, Gonzalez later identified the agent as hydrogen sulfide, a flammable, highly toxic gas.
Shelter-in-place orders have been issued for all 34,495 residents of Deer Park and those north of Spence Highway in the nearby city Pasadena.
“If you are in this area, please go inside, close all windows and doors, and turn off the air conditioner until an all-clear is given via the Ready Pasadena Alert System and social media,” the City of Pasadena said on its official X account. Advertisement
Texas State Highway 225 has been closed in both directions near Beltway 8 because of the emergency.
PEMEX said emergency protocols were activated following the leak and notifications were sent out to local authorities.
“To mitigate the impact, the operation of the coking unit and hydro treatment units was proactively stopped, and safety venting was carried out, notifying the authorities through the mechanisms outlined by the protocol,” it said.
“No impact on the community has been reported.”
This is a developing story.
