Texas City Ordered to Shelter in Place After Fatal Chemical Leak

An entire Texas city was under shelter-in-place orders after a chemical leak at an oil refinery killed two people and injured several more. Hydrogen sulfide, a colorless gas, was released into the air at the PEMEX oil refinery in Deer Park, near Houston, starting around 4:20pm Thursday, CNN reports. Operations at the plant were stopped as soon as the leak was detected, and the bodies of two workers were found at the scene, the AP reports. At least another 35 people were triaged, authorities say. Residents of Deer Park, as well as some people in neighboring Pasadena, were instructed to stay indoors with their doors and windows closed and air conditioners turned off, and a highway was briefly closed.

Ultimately, however, air monitoring found no hazardous chemicals in the community, and the order was lifted. Officials say air monitoring will continue. Hydrogen sulfide is used in oil and gasoline refining and has a "rotten egg" smell, which some residents have reported smelling in their neighborhoods, but the mayor said that is not an indication of danger. "Other than the smell, we have not had any verifiable air monitoring to support that anything got outside the facility," he says. Inside the plant, however, chemical levels remain too high for investigators to enter. Just last month, a pipeline fire burned for days in Deer Park. (More Texas stories.)