A gas leak took place while drilling an oil well wednesday at the Al-Rawdhatain oilfield, Kuwait Oil Company and security sources said, as that the pungent and repulsive smell of hydrogen sulfide reached as far as Kuwaiti City as reported by many residents. The sources said Abdali firemen and KOC emergency teams later contained the leak by burning out the escaping gas to prevent it from spreading far. [Source]
Lucky for me I’m not in Kuwait right now.
Thanks Jafar
40 replies on “Deadly toxic gas spreads across Kuwait after leak”
There’s still some smell in Jabriya but the situation is much better than 3 hours ago! Still scary though!
Wow. We were smelling this in Salmiya! I was wondering what the smell was!
your upper lip
Your a bit late to the party with this one.Mark
what do you mean?
Its been something people have been discussing the entire day. Maybe thats what he meant. But then again your not in Kuwait 😛
Well he means that by the time u shared it the situation was under control…
I too felt it while i was driving back to salmiya with my family at 11 pm.i felt like oil burning so i stopped to check my car
I hope there is no danger to lives of people it reminded me of bhopal case in India which was terrible
Mark this is not the exact picture of the fire.
Its from the Kuwait Times article
Ya even i saw it..actually i can give you the real pictures tomorrow..!
It was really a strong smell in Salmiyah between 10:15 to 11:20PM. It smelled horrible.
Mark.
You are way too late with this post. Now it is a lot better.
I wasn’t reporting live…
is it fished now? are there any hazard safety plans. many rumors on FB and whatsapp to shut down AC and to put wet cloths under your doors and windows and to drink milk and rush to hospitals.
on Ktv2 news they said there was a leak and it was under control and no casualties reported.
anyone has any inside news on this one. cannot sleep, need some comforting news on this one.
All rumors, it’s not a severe enough concentration to do anything other than smell like farts
^^ This.
fished?
Thank god the wind is blowing North again, it was seriously intolerable for awhile….
my fried called me and told me about it around 10pm. actually i cannot smell anything in salmiya but all my friends are complaining about the smell.
https://www.kuna.net.kw/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2269089&language=en
https://www.google.com.kw/#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=news+kuwait+gas+leak&oq=news+kuwait+gas+leak&gs_l=serp.3…6158.11255.0.12231.20.18.0.2.2.1.465.5382.2-12j4j2.18.0.les%3B..0.0…1c.1.WO56H9hqBeo&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=df0bef246d469f87&bpcl=35440803&biw=1272&bih=649
I smell something, but then again, I did eat Louisiana red beans & rice last night 🙂
I can still smell it in south surrah!
From the Arab Times : “KUWAIT CITY, Oct 17: Oil and obnoxious gas leaked from well #136…”
I didn’t know the gas (obnoxious) had a personality 😛
DD Max – Know your adjectives properly.
They meant noxious not obnoxious
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_sulfide
Hydrogen sulfide is considered a broad-spectrum poison, meaning that it can poison several different systems in the body, although the nervous system is most affected. The toxicity of H2S is comparable with that of hydrogen cyanide. It forms a complex bond with iron in the mitochondrial cytochrome enzymes, thus preventing cellular respiration.
Hydrogen sulfide is a highly toxic and flammable gas (flammable range: 4.3–46%). Being heavier than air, it tends to accumulate at the bottom of poorly ventilated spaces. Although very pungent at first, it quickly deadens the sense of smell, so potential victims may be unaware of its presence until it is too late.
H2S in high concentrations will kill you before you smell it 🙂
If you still smell it you’re not dying
im disturbed by this incident in Kuwait, that a Gas Leak spread across residential areas putting Kuwaiti Citizens and Expats in harms way. I understand this was taken care off by the experts at KOC, but still a lower grade of Hydrogen sulfide, reached alot of people over vast distances. The Fact that the gas still reached out to people and other living beings is concerning, coz “what if” this gas was of a different kind? what if this was of a higher grade. Wasnt there any backup plan for such incidents?, or a failsafe to prevent gas going beyond the boundaries of the oil plant?. Kuwait has been in the oil business for decades now.. Such an incident cannot be excused that could put its people in harms way.
your talking about kuwait now. they cant organize traffic laws.
Dude. I think people are overreacting.
When things get out of control in oilfield, no one on earth can do anything. And ya, there is always a backup plan. They make the backup plans before they start to work. So sometimes things don’t go in your way. Its like driving a car, you wear a seatbelt, check your breaks and whole car, but can you ensure that your car will never meet an accident even you have drove car for decades? NO..!
Its different from sitting on a PC and writing whatever going through your mind.
Kuwait and its people are safe. Responsible people are in the fields.
All that toxic gas resulting from people eating too many burgers.
Jokes aside, I hope it didnt badly harm anyone.
The H2S gas came from an oil well during drilling operation and not from the plant. There are uncertainties connected with drilling as oil and gas comes from beneath the earth and unexpected pressures could be encountered. It is not like a plant where things are much more controlled. Yes, it should not have happened but accidents do happen and not all accidents are due to human error.
the head of KOC resigned so looks like there was some human error in there
Where are u getting this from?
I’m just concerned that there was nothing on TV or Kuwait Radio to at least inform people of the real situation. We had to hear countless rumours and rely on homemade potions and antidotes through FB and SMSes. There was a brief mention about the leak, but nothing as far as public service messages were concerned.
It was on TV
From the subject title, it is like the perfect opener for a mutation/zombie movie, haha.
BIG MO and BIG D let some RIP that night…